College update

Recently finished a year at Leeds Art College, had a great time, now in my second year, images of my first year work will be going up soon. 🙂

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 11 and 12

Here’s Chapters 11 and 12 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Chapter 11 Nightingale

The next day I was still rather sore and and very tender around my waist, I went to sit up, it was very difficult with the amount of pain, but eventually, gritting my teeth, I fought against the pain and got up and out of my nest, I looked out of my bedroom window, it was a grey, miserable day, dark grey clouds, it was coming to the end of summer so the days weren’t as warm as they were, I looked forward, straight ahead of me I saw Kookaburra also looking out of his bedroom, I had no idea that his room was opposite mine, I gave him a little wave and he waved back.

When I went down to breakfast, Ballista, Gildar, Thorne, Skabb and Vane we already there.

“Morning.” I said sitting down.

“Morning. How are you feeling?” Ballista asked.

“A bit sore and very tender around the waist.”

“By the way, I told the king what happened and he’s given you a week off to recover.” said Thorne.

“A week? What about Kook? Is he going to be okay with this?”

“We’ve already asked him and he says that he’s fine with it.”

A week? What could I do to keep me occupied for a week? I’m not sure that I could, but maybe if I start to feel better before the week is up then the king could let me come back to work.

After 4 days I started to feel loads better, so one morning before breakfast I stayed behind to speak to the king.

“So what did you want to speak to me about Nightingale?”

“Well your highness, I’ve had four days off the job so far, and I’m already feeling loads better and I was wondering if it would be alright if I started work again.”

“Do you think that you’re well enough?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Okay, if you think that you’re ready to work again then I’m going to let you back on the job.”

“Thank you sire.”

Thank goodness, I’m back on the job, I felt much happier now I wasn’t on temporary leave, despite I was given a week off, it was the most miserable week of my life, I missed spending my days with Kook, even though he still doesn’t know how I feel about him, he’s going to be really surprise when I turn up.

When I got to the top of the lookout tower Kook was over on the right side of the tower, I walked over to him and stood by his left side, he had no idea that I was there, I cleared my throat to get his attention.

“Nightingale, what are you doing here?” he asked surprised, I knew that he’d be surprised.

“I was feeling much better so I asked the king if I could come back to work early, he said yes.”

“Are you sure that you don’t need another day or so, you look a bit tired.”

“Not as tired as you, you go and have a little lie down, you look like you could do with a rest.2

“No, don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“Kook, you’ve been up here all morning, if I was you I would be begging for some relaxation.”

“Well…now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit knackered.”

I watched as Kook turned around and left the lookout tower, I was desperate to tell him how I felt about him, but there was some problems, first, he’s a Kookaburra and I’m a Nightingale, mind, that never stopped my parents, my mum is a Nightingale, it’s her that I inherited my name and voice from, but my dad is a crow, it’s him that I inherited my looks from, second, Kook might not like me anyway and third, defenders can’t be in relationships anyway…come on Nightingale, you’ll never know unless you try, when he comes back up just tell him how you feel.

He was only gone for around 55 minutes, when I heard him walking up the steps I started to shake, I don’t know it I can do this, I’ve never told a guy that I like him before, I’ve had a crush on a number of guys, but not like this, come on Nightingale you can do this, he’s just the one guy.

“You feeling better now?” I asked.

“Yeah, much better.”

Now was my chance, I have to tell him, I decided to break it in gently and build up to it, slowly, I walked over to Kook standing close to him.

“It’s a beautiful view isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah, very nice.”

“I love coming up here first thing in the morning and last thing at night, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s pretty romantic wouldn’t you say?”

“Err…yeah…I guess.”

What am I doing? I can’t do this, I need to think about how I’m going to tell him, and this isn’t the way, I turned around and walked back over to the left side of the tower.

“Were you trying to tell me something?” Kook asked me.

“What?”

“You were talking about the beautiful view and how romantic it is, it’s just that it made me think that you were trying to tell me something.”

“Err…no, I was just saying that the view’s very beautiful from up here and how romantic the view is at this time of day.”

“Oh okay.”

That was so embarrassing, I was so close to telling Kook how I feel about him, I chickened out and he nearly figured out what I was trying to say, that;s not how I wanted it to happen, I wanted to tell him so badly, but I didn’t know hoe, we didn’t speak much for the remainder of the day, I was relieved when we could leave our duties and go to bed.

I walked into my room and was about to get ready for bed when I saw something tucked behind the twigs of my nest, it was some sort of note.

“Dear Nightingale, meet me at the top of the lookout tower at midnight, sincerely your secret admirer.” It said.

Secret admirer? I never knew that I had a secret admirer, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, who could my secret admirer be, it has to be one of the guys, no one else would have been able to get into the castle, not with Knightriss and Madeva on the gates.

When midnight came round, I got my cloak on and sneaked out of my room, there were soldiers still on the corridors on their night shifts, if they spotted me then it wouldn’t be good, but I’m sure that I would have been able to come up with some excuse.

I was starting to get the hang of sneaking around the castle, hiding from the soldiers, I shoudln’t really get used to this. I approached the corridor leading to the kings bedroom, I had to go down there to get to the lookout tower, I was suddenly faced with a problem, there were two soldiers stood outside the kings room, I had to distract them, i reached for my slingshot and looked around me for a stone big enough to knock something over, carefully and quietly, I loaded the slingshot and aimed it at a metal candle holder, the candle wasn’t lit so there was no risk of a fire, I looked over my shoulder to check that there wasn’t anyone behind me, there wasn’t so I fired the stone, it hit the candle holder, it wobbled ferociously before toppling over, there was a loud clang sound as it hit the stone floor.

“Who’s there?” I heard one of the soldiers shout.

I hid behind the wall as they ran over, I could hear them brandish their swords and their hard shoes on the floor as they ran past, as the sound of their footsteps faded, I made my escape, before I got to the end of the corridor there were some other soldiers coming the other way, I panicked, where could I go now, I looked to my right and there was a gap between the wall and a pillar that was just wide enough for me to fit between, it was a tight squeeze but it was enough, I waited for the soldiers to go round the corner before I carried on.

I eventually made it to the lookout tower, I could see someone standing at the top, my secret admirer, I ran over to the stairs, it took a while to get to the top and I was out of breath when I got there, but I gained all my breath back when I saw my secret admirer in front of me, they had their back to me and their cloak hood up so I couldn’t see who it was, I put my cloak hood down and walked over to them.

“So.” I said twirling my fingers. “You’re my secret admirer?”

“Yep.” They replied.

“How long have you been my admirer for?”

“Since the day that you came for your interview.”

“So you’re one of the other defenders then?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you forgotten that defenders can’t be in relationships?”

“No, I was reminded by the king recently.”

I was starting to recognise their voice, they had a slight accent, that accent was an Australian accent and it was pretty strong, there’s only one person I know who had an Australian accent that strong, someone who I work with every day.

“Kook, is that you?”

I reached over and removed their hood, it was Kook, I was over the moon with the fact that he was my secret admirer, this was a much better was of confessing my feelings for him too.

“Is this a joke?”

“No, I may be a joker, but this time I’m serious.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I just didn’t know how to tell you, and I thought that this was the most romantic way to do it, this is the best view in the castle anyway, you said so yourself.”

“True.”

Kook had said to me that he’s my admirer so I no longer have to worry whether he likes me or not when I tell him how i feel.

“Kook, I really like you too.” I blurted, as soon as the words left my mouth I let out a sigh of relief. “I’ve wanted to say that for a long time.”

“Well why didn’t you?”

“I just didn’t know how to.”

Kook smiled, it was a small crooked smile almost and embarrassed smile, and he wasn’t the only one, I looked down and to the left when I could feel my cheeks burning even though it was a cold night. I was thinking about the situation when I looked up to the sky, there were thousands of tiny stars decorating the midnight sky, and the bright silver moon shining right ahead of us.

“It’s so beautiful.” I said.

“Like you.” Kook replied. “You know before you got here, I was matching up every star with a reason why I like you…I ran out of stars.”

I turned back towards Kook, he cupped me under the chin lifting my face up, I raised my left hand up and ran it gently through Kook’s soft green hair, he began to lean forward before kissing me gently on the lips, I sighed with happiness, I wrapped my arms round his neck and he wrapped his around my waist as he kissed me again, out of all the days that I have been on this job, this has got to be the best day so far.

“We’ll have to keep all of this a secret.” said Kook stroking my face.

“Are you sure that we’ll be able to manage? It’s normally hard to keep secrets around here.2

Me and Kook were now ever so happy that we’ve revealed our feelings, but I’ve got a feeling deep down that this relationship is going to be filled with trouble.

Chapter 12 Skabb

The days were getting and shorter as summer came to an end and Autumn came around and it was now a vital time for the kingdom, all of the crops had been harvested from the castle gardens and it had come to that time when some of us were sent into the woods to collect things for the winter, me, Ballista and Vane were sent out to do the hunting while Nightingale was sent to collect some different berries and nuts for the castle kitchens.

Ballista got her crossbow, Vane got his bow and arrows and I got my club and spear before we ventured out into the woods, we were out there first thing in the morning, so it was rather dark. After we’d been out there for 2 hours, we hadn’t had any luck, our legs were aching and our feet were throbbing so we decided to rest under an oak tree nearby.

“I’m exhausted.” said Vane sliding down the trunk of the tree.

“Me too.” Ballista replied.

“I wonder how Nightingale’s getting on.”

“Better than us, that’s for sure.”

“Obviously, she just needs to collect some different varieties of berries, fruits and nuts.”

I was about to sit down with Vane and Ballista when I was sure that I heard some rustling coming from the right of us.

“Did you guys hear that?” I asked.

“Hear what?” Ballista replied, putting her crossbow down.

“I could have sworn that I heard some rustling coming from over here.”

I stood up and walked over to where I heard the rustling coming from.

“Skabb, dude, just relax.” said Vane.

Again I was about to sit down when I was absolutely sure and certain that I heard the sound of a twig snapped in half, I reached for my spear.

“You must have heard that.” I said.

“Yeah, I did.” Ballista replied picking up her crossbow.

“It’s coming from over there.” said Vane pointing to the left bushes.

We got prepared for whatever might have been in those bushes, the noises were getting louder and louder as it got closer, just before it emerged we prepared our weapons, I could see that Vane was slightly trembling, the bush started shaking before the creature emerged, I raised my spear, Ballista aimed her crossbow and Vane pulled his bow back, then we realised what or to be honest, who it was, it was Nightingale.

“Whoa, whoa, guys it’s me.” she said in shock raising her hands

“Sorry Nightingale, we thought that you were some kind of creature.” Ballista explained. “How are you getting on?”

“Pretty good, what about you?”

“No luck so far.”

“Oh, well I’m sure you’ll get something sure enough.”

“I hope so.”

“Well, I better get going, I don’t want to get in your way. I’ll see you all back at the castle.”

“Okay.”

Nightingale then walked away from us to the right of the woods, I watched her as she walked away.

“You know, i actually think that Nightingale is very good looking.” I said.

“What?” Ballista asked startled.

“Dude, you don’t have a crush on her do you?” Vane added.

“What, no. I was just saying, I can see what Kook sees in her now.”

“Hang on.” said Ballista. “Are you saying that Kookaburra has a crush on Nightingale.”

“Yeah, why is there something wrong?”

“Well, yes and no, obviously yes because he can’t be with her anyway because of the rules and no because Nightingale also has a crush on Kook.”

“Really.”

“Yeah, she told me and the girls a while ago.”

“That must have been what the king spoke to Kook about a while back.”

“Shall we tell them?”

“Nightingale and Kook?”

“Yeah, I think that they should know.”

“Yeah, but if we tell them it might make them feel upset because as you said they can’t be together anyway.”

“But what about the others? Should they be informed?”

“Maybe.”

This was a big problem, Nightingale fancies Kook and Kook fancies Nightingale, I know that it’s mean but it really is for the best that they don’t know about this, if they did it could lead to loads of problems such as their hearts breaking seeing as they can’t do anything about it, and this could also lead them loosing their jobs or them quitting.

I soon forgot about it when the hunting got into full swing, we’d tracked down the animals and were approaching silently, they had no idea that we were there…at the moment. I stepped forward onto the stick, it snapped under my weight and they went running off into the woods.

“Skabb you clumsy oaf.”

“Sorry.”

We ventured further into the woods, I was leading us with my spear pointed forward, Ballista was behind me and Vane was starting to lag behind.

“Vane come on. This isn’t the right time for a rest.” Ballista whispered.

“I know, I just thought that I heard something.” Vane replied.

“Like what?”

“Like a rustling sound.”

“It’s probably a bird or something.”

“Or it could be Nightingale again.”

We continued to walk when we heard a sound that we’d never heard the time that we’d spent out here, it was the sound of some singing, it was beautiful, it got me thinking about what creature that sound could be coming from, as we continued to walk on further and further into the woods, the singing started to get louder and louder, it started to sound almost human, we followed the singing to a clearing in the bushes, we slowly peeped over the top of the bushes in front of us, the scene that confronted us was Nightingale again, living up to her name, she was dancing around, singing as well as collecting berries, she had the most beautiful singing voice that I’d ever heard, now I know why she’s called Nightingale. She was rather startled when she spun around and saw us behind the bushes.

“Are you guys following me?” she asked.

“We were going to ask you the same thing.” I replied. “We never knew that you could sing like that.”

“Well you must have got a slight clue, I am a Nightingale after all.”

“True.”

We were talking for another 5 minutes before returning to the task in hand, Nightingale went back to the castle while me, Ballista and Vane were left in the woods trying to catch something, we’re starting to reach that stage where we don’t care what it is, just as long as we caught something.

We did actually go back to the castle with a few catches, they weren’t big, but they were enough. When we’d taken the stock to the kitchens ready for what winter was going to have in store for us, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on what’s been happening while we’d been in the woods, Nightingale and Kookaburra weren’t with us at the moment so we thought that now would be the best time to bring up the subject we were talking about in the woods.

“Guys, you know that Kook has a crush on Nightingale right?” I said.

“Yeah.”

“Well Ballista told me and Vane in the woods while we were hunting that Nightingale also has a crush on Kook.”

“You’re not kidding?”

“No really, I’m serious.”

“Should we tell Kook?”

“That’s what we thought earlier, but think about this for a second. If we tell Kook that Nightingale also has a crush on him, that’ll most likely make him upset, because we think that the king has told him that he and Nightingale can’t be in a relationship.”

“Oh I see, and if he knows that Nightingale has a crush on him, it’ll be much harder for him to stay calm knowing that she has the same feelings.”

“Exactly, so don’t go telling him any of this.”

As Kook walked over to where we were sitting, we instantly stopped the conversation.

“What are you guys talking about?” He asked.

“Nothing important.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“No.”

I wanted to tell Kook the truth but like I said to the others, it may be best that he doesn’t know, along with Nightingale.

I found it hard to sleep with this situation on my mind, look on the bright side Skabb, it’ll be Christmas soon and your family is going to be visiting, that’s the way it’s always been in Splatalot.

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 9 and 10

Here’s Chapters 9 and 10 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Chapter 9 Kookaburra

I actually felt loads better now that I’ve told the others about my crush on Nightingale, I didn’t want them to tell her, I decided that I was going to tell her myself. That night I found it hard to get to sleep, I couldn’t  get Nightingale out of my mind, I decided that I was going to tell her my feelings tomorrow.

The next time I opened my eyes, there was daylight bursting through my bedroom window, I got up and had a look outside, the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, there wasn’t a cloud in sight. I looked down into the kingdom, the soldiers were getting ready to stop their night shifts. Looking back up I noticed someone walking around in the bedroom opposite me, as my eyes came into focus, I recognised them, it was Nightingale, I had no idea that she was in the room opposite mine.

As I watch, she placed a small bowl of water and a sponge on the dresser, “I hope that she’s just washing her face.” I thought, no, she unfastened one strap on her nightgown, my hands were trembling and my heart was pounding, she unfastened the other and my legs went weak, she went to remove her nightgown, but I turned away, phew, that was close, maybe a bit too close, to take my mind off what had happened, I got ready for the day ahead.

I was the first person to arrive at the kings quarters but the others weren’t that far behind, Nightingale arrived after Skabb and Faetal.

“Morning.” She said.

“Morning.” Faetal replied.

Nightingale then turned to me and smiled.

“Morning Kook.”

“Er, y-yeah morning.” I stammered, my voice was slightly higher than it normally is.

“You alright Kook?” Skabb asked.

“Er, yeah, never felt better.” I answered clearing my throat.

By the time the others had arrived, I’d finally calmed down. When we walked into the room, the king was once again sat at his desk but there was something different, it wasn’t obvious, but I could feel that there was something different in the atmosphere.

“Your highness.” We said.

“Morning everyone, I’ve got something that I need to run past all of you. It’s the rules as I think that some of you may have forgotten what some of those rules are.”

The king went through every single rule with detail refreshing our memories, but my almost stopped when he mentioned the rule about defenders not being able to be in relationships, my heart cracked, I’d forgotten all about that.

“You may all go now, except for Kookaburra, I’d like a word with you.”

Strewth, this can’t be good. When everyone else had left the room, I closed the doors, what would the king want to talk to me about?

“Take a seat Kook.”

Without a word, I sat down in the chair opposite the kings desk.

“Kookaburra, I’m very concerned.”

This really can’t be good, he used my full name.

The king continued. “You are fully aware of the rules aren’t you?”

“Yes sire.”

“Well, a little birdie came to see me the other day and told me that you’ve got a crush.”

I’m now caught between a rock and a hard place, I can’t tell the king the truth else he’ll get mad, and I can’t lie to him, else he’ll get mad, the king could see that I was nervous, so in his way he attempted to calm me down.

“Don’t worry Kook, there’s no need to be nervous, I won’t get mad.”

I decided to tell the truth. “Yes sire, I do have a crush.”

“I take it that it’s one of the girls here.”

I nodded.

“Would you mind telling me who?”

“Err…Nightingale.”

The king sighed. “I thought that you fully understood the rules Kook, you know that defenders can’t be in relationships, and to be honest, if you don’t think that you’ll be able with that, then we might have to let you go.”

“Are you firing me?”

“No, but if you really do like Nightingale and don’t think that you could live not being with her, then it would probably be best if you left.”

“No, no, I can live with it sire, please, I love this job.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Yes, absolutely sure.”

I really wasn’t sure about it, I really do love Nightingale but if I really do love her, then I’ll have to leave this job, I could feel the tears filling my eyes, I tried not to blink too much as i was sure that the tears would start to fall.

“Okay, you may go now.”

The minute I got outside, I broke down into floods of tears. After breakfast, I went to the lookout tower, Nightingale was still up there, she noticed me as soon as I arrived.

“Hi.” she said smiling.

“Yeah hi.” I replied.

“What did the king say?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Keep it together Kook, she’s just a girl, plenty more birds in the sky.

“Are you crying Kook?” Nightingale asked.

“No, no, I’m fine…” I thought that now would be the best time for me to tell Nightingale how I feel for her. “Erm…Nightingale, there’s something that I need to tell you, it’s been on my mind for a while and it’s rather important.”

“Well it’ll have to wait.”

Nightingale reached for the horn to sound the attack alarm, I looked over at the horizon and there was a large army of attackers heading for the castle, we both raced down the stairs, grabbed our weapons and went to help the others defend.

By the time that we got to the castle walls the attackers were almost here, I grabbed my slingshot and aimed, releasing, the stone went flying hitting someone on the head, knocking them off balance, strike! As I hid behind the wall to load my weapon again, I looked to my left, both Vane and Ballista were working well together as a team, Ballista was giving Vane tips on who to aim for, and when to shoot the arrows, it was good to see that everyone was working together and helping each other.

I turned back to what I was doing, loading up my slingshot, I aimed again, this time striking two attackers down, I’m on fire today. Taking cover again, I had another look around, Nightingale was also taking cover, as she was loading her weapon again, she turned to look at me, I gave her a small smile and a thumbs up, we both got back  up to fire, this time I missed, out of the corner of my eye, I saw an archer aiming for me, before they had a chance to fire, I took cover, as soon as I did, the arrow went flying past me, I looked over my shoulder and there was another archer aiming for someone else, they shot but I saw the arrow fly over our heads.

I loaded my weapon again and was about to turn and fire when I saw Nightingale backing up, something had to be wrong as she seemed to be in pain and was clutching her right side.

“Nightingale, are you alright?” I shouted.

She didn’t reply, she dropped her slingshot and started to stumble, she turned towards us, and that was when I saw it, she had an arrow in her right side, at that point I also dropped my slingshot and ran over.

“NIGHTINGALE!”

The others were turning around to see what all the noise was about. Nightingale was incredibly unstable when I got to her, i was by her side keeping her steady, dodging the arrows and stones we went to one side, making sure that she was steady, I let go of her arm.

“Come on Nightingale, we need to get you somewhere safe.”

“No, just leave me here, I’ll be fine.”

“Nightingale, you’ve just been hit with an arrow, don’t go telling me that you’re fine.”

She looked very pale and dizzy, after swaying for a while, she staggered over to the left, stumbled and eventually fainted, landing in my arms.

Chapter 10 Thorne

We continued fighting while Kook carried Nightingale inside. When the fighting was over, we went to see how Nightingale was doing, she was now awake, but she was weak and very pale.

“How are you feeling Nightingale?” Asked Ballista.

“Not good.”

I went outside, Kookaburra was stood by the doorway, looking very concerned.

“You can come I if you want Kook.” I said.

“No, I can’t see Nightingale like that.”

“Okay.”

I went back inside, Shaiden was sat next to Nightingale mopping her brow, we had to get the arrow out, but first we had to find out whether the arrow had hit any of her vital organs.

“It’s okay sis, I’ll take over from here.” I said.

“Alright.”

Shaiden then stood up and walked over to the others to inform them on how Nightingale was doing.

“Okay Nightingale, we’re going to have to take this arrow out, are you alright with that right now?”

“Yeah.”

“But first, I need you to answer me a few things, first, on a scale of one to ten how bad is the pain?”

“Erm…5, it was 10 when it hit me.”

I placed my hand close to the wound.

“Now, I’m going to push near the wound, and I want you to tell me on a scale of one to ten how much it hurts.”

“Is this all necessary?”

“Yes, this is to determine whether the arrow has hit any vital organs.”

“Okay.”

I pushed down gently and released, Nightingale winced slightly with the pain.

“What would you rate that?”

“Err…4.”

I move my hand closer to the wound.

“And what about now?”

I pushed down again.

“Agh…7”

“I think that you’re safe, if you’d said 8 or 9 then it might have hit your organs, if it had then it would have been much more serious.”

“How serious?”

“Well, let’s just say it would have resulted with death.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

I turned back to the arrow and grabbed hold ready to yank it out. “I’m going to pull the arrow out now okay?”

“Okay.”

I took a deep breath and the arrow came out with one quick easy motion, when it was out I grabbed the cloth behind me and placed it over the wound.

“AGH!” Nightingale screamed.

“Faetal, could you hold this in place for me please?”

“Okay.”

Faetal quickly ran over and took over from me, holding the cloth in place while I went to get a bandage.

“Tell me if she starts to get any worse.”

“Okay.”

I turned around and went to get a bandage and a needle and thread to sew up the wound.

“Thorne, I think that she’s getting worse.” Faetal shouted.

I ran back over and Faetal was right, Nightingale was getting worse, her face was almost white, her brow was wet with sweat and her pulse was speeding up, I was sure that she was going to faint.

“Nightingale, Nightingale, can you hear me?” I said. She didn’t respond.

“Is she alright?” Faetal asked.

“Yeah, she’s just passed out.”

While Nightingale was out cold, we stitched up the wound and wrapped the bandage around her waist, while we were waiting for Nightingale to come back round, I went back outside to Kook to give him the news so far.

“Well? How is she?” He asked.

“She’s not really with us at the moment.”

“She’s dead?”

“No, she’s unconscious.”

“Well why didn’t you say that?”

“I’ll let you know when she comes round.”

“Okay, thanks mate.”

“Thorne!” Faetal shouted.

I dashed back inside.

“What is it?”

“I think that she’s coming back round.”

“Nightingale? Nightingale, can you hear me?”

Slowly, her eyes began to open.

“What happened?” She asked, he voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

“You just fainted that’s all.”

“I feel really sore.”

“That’ll be the stitches, we’ve stitched up the wound.”

“Thanks Thorne.”

“It’s Kook that you should be thanking, he was the one who saw you, the one who caught you the first time that you fainted.”

“Where is Kook anyway?”

“He’s outside, I’ll go and get him.”

When I went back to Kook he was pacing up and down anxiously.

“Kook, you alright?”

“Never mind me, is Nightingale alright?”

“Yeah, she’s fine, she’s awake now if you’d like to come and see her.”

“Okay.”

When Kook walked into the room, Nightingale’s face lit up with a large bright smile.”

“Hi Kook.”

“Hey Nightingale, how are you feeling?”

“Sore.”

“Now you know how I felt when you removed that arrow from my arm.”

Nightingale laughed and winced with the pain.

“Try not to use your stomach muscles too much, that’s what’s causing the pain.” I said.

She turned back to Kook.

“You said that you wanted to tell me something, what is it?”

“I don’t think that now’s the best time.”

At the end of the day we took Nightingale up to her room and helped her into her nest, she’d hopefully be as right as rain in the morning, for someone who just got hit by an arrow, she was terribly brave, most people would be trembling, sweating and needing someone to hold their hand, and would want someone to be with them the whole time, I wish that more people were like Nightingale.

 

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Limey x

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 8

Here’s Chapter 8 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Shaiden

After a good rest we had all gained our energy back from the battle yesterday, all of our muscles ached, but at least we’d succeeded in keeping the kingdom safe from Splazzer City, but I was concerned about someone right now, that was Nightingale, she seemed to be sort of distracted, I was starting to get the idea that she was worried about something or someone but I couldn’t figure out what it could be. That morning, I decided to speak to her about it, while me, Nightingale, Vane, Knightriss, Gildar and Tinkor were having breakfast.

“Nightingale, have you been feeling alright at all?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been fine, why do you ask?”

“Well, you’ve been sort of distracted recently, and i was wondering if there was something on your mind.”

“Er…no, no. I’ve just been thinking that’s all.”

“Thinking about what?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on Nightingale, if something’s bothering you, you can tell me, we’re partners and friends aren’t we?”

“Really, there’s nothing wrong.”

“So why have you been so distracted?”

“It’s nothing to do with you, if there’s something on my mind then I might not want to tell you, just back off.”

Before I could apologize Nightingale stood up and left the breakfast table in a huff, now I was really concerned, she’s not normally so angry, there really is something on her mind, seeing as I can’t persuade Nightingale to tell me, I was going to ask the others if they knew anything.

While I was on duty I first went to ask the girls.

“Ballista, have you noticed a change in Nightingale’s behaviour recently?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah, I have a bit.”

“What was that.”

“Well she seemed a bit distracted the other day and whenever we were talking about the boys, she’d start to go red in the cheeks.”

“Have you tried speaking to her. Because I did and she just shouted at me.”

“No, should I talk to her?”

“Well if you do, don’t say that I spoke to you, and don’t just ask her directly if there’s something on her mind else she might get suspitious.”

“What are you two talking about?” Crocness asked walking over to us.

“We were just talking about Nightingale, we think that there’s something on her mind but she won’t say anything, I explained.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, only the other day I was talking to her about something that Kookaburra told me, as soon as I mentioned him, she started twirling her hair with her fingers and went red in the face.”

“You don’t think that she’s got a crush on him do you?”

“She might do, I’m not sure. Shall I ask her about it?”

“Maybe not directly, we should just break it in gently to her.”

“Okay.”

When Ballista went to talk to Nightingale, me, Crocness, Faetal, Madeva and Knightriss were talking, trying to figure out what may be on Nightingale’s mind, if there was something bothering her then we could propably help her with it.

“So do any of you have any thoughts on what may be on her mind?”

“No, I don’t really see her that often enough to talk to her.” said Faetal.

“Well how has she been behaving recently?”

“Well…the first thing that I noticed was that she sometimes drifts off to a world of her own and whenever I mention the boys, she starts to go a subtle shade of pink.” said Madeva. “Maybe she’s crushing on someone.”

Just then Ballista came back over.

“So? Did she say anything?” I asked.

“No, I think that she knows that we want to know.”

We were about to continue our conversation and investigation when Nightingale also walked  over.

“Don’t stop talking.” she said “I know that you’re talking about me, and I want to know why.”

“Alright, I guess that you should know.” I replied. “We just wanted to know if there was anything bothering you, because you’ve been acting strangely lately and we thought that there may be something on your mind.”

“Well if it’ll get you off my back, I might as well tell you.”

She looked over at the boys.

“How would you guys describe Kookaburra?”

“Err…annoying, irritating, never shuts up, gets on your nerves…” I started.

“No, I mean nice ways to describe him.”

“Erm…I don’t know.”

“Well, I’d say that he’s kind, caring, loveable, funny, a great friend…cute.”

“I think that someone’s in love.” said Madeva.

“No, there can’t be any of that.” Knightriss interuppted “Don’t you remember the rules Nightingale? The king told you that one of the rules was that  defenders cannot be in relationships, you swore that you would abide to all of the rules.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right.”

I’ve never seen Nightingale look so sad, I have to admit, it is a bit of a stupid rule. Nightingale didn’t say anything else for the rest of that conversation, to tell you the truth, I think that the king should abolish that rule, I mean, what’s the point of having a rule if it breaks peoples hearts.

Gildar

Now that Splazzer City weren’t going to bother us anymore, things were a heck of a lot calmer, although, they were a bit upset with Kook for killing Falcon, and speaking of Kookaburra, he has changed rather drastically over the past week or so.

“Kook are you okay?” I asked.

“Err… yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that you seem slightly distracted.”

“Oh, well…it’s nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well what do you believe?”

“I believe that there’s something on your mind, and you don’t want to share, if there’s something bothering you Kook, you can tell us, we could be able to help.”

“Well you won’t be able to help with this.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not saying.”

“It’ll save you plenty of time mate if you did tell us.”

“Well…alright, alright…you know Nightingale?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…she’s pretty hot wouldn’t you say?”

“Erm…I wouldn’t say that she’s hot, but yeah, she’s pretty good looking, so what’s on your mind?”

“I’ve just told you.”

“Nightingale!”

“Shh, she’ll hear you.”

“Well if you like her, just go and tell her.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Chicken.”

“No, I’m a Kookaburra.”

I was happy to see that Kook was still joking around, but there was something about his crush on Nightingale that got me worrying, so when Kook left, I asked the others.

“Guys, we’ve got a bit of a problem.” I said

“What?”

“Kookaburra is crushing on Nightingale.”

“Dude, seriously.” said Vane.

“Really, he is. I was just thinking, is there a rule about defenders and relationships?”

“Yeah, I think there is.” said Skabb. “The king said that defenders can’t be in relationships.”

“Well I think that we should ask the king about it, who’s going to ask him?”

None of us stepped forward.

“Fine, I might as well ask him.” I said.

I didn’t really want to ask the king about it, because if this rule is absolute then it’ll no dought break Kook’s heart, and I don’t want to be responsible for that. I was shaking slightly as I approached the kings quarters, slowly, I raised my arm and knocked on the door.

“Enter.”

 

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Limey x

 

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 7

Here’s Chapter 7 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Chapter 7 Nightingale

I heard Kook scream so I knew that there was something wrong, while my opponent was down I turned  to where I heard his scream coming from, the scene that confronted me was Kook lying on the ground writhing in agony, the soldier near him picked up up Kook’s sword. At that point I reached for my slingshot, I picked up the closest stone that I could find, loaded my weapon and aimed it at the soldiers head, as he raised the sword to strike Kook dead, I released the slingshot, the stone went flying through the air, striking the soldier in the centre of his forehead, killing him stone dead.

“Kook, are you alright?” I asked running over, as I got closer I couldn’t help but notice the arrow he had in his right arm.

“Do I look alright?” Kookaburra replied, his voice shaking slightly.

I help Kook to his feet and walked him to one side away from the fight, I noticed that he was shaking slightly and I could feel his pulse beating fast, we walked over to the woods on the right side of the field, slowly and gently, I sat Kook down against a nearby tree.

“Has the pain eased at all?” I asked.

“A bit.” Kook replied, his left hand clutching his right arm.

I had to get the arrow out, and the only way to do that was to yank it out with a quick sharp tug.

“I’m going to have to pull the arrow out okay?” I said.

“Err…alright.”

Reaching into the pouch that I had on my belt I pulled out a clean handkerchief, ready to place over the wound.

“Okay this will hurt, so brace yourself.” I warned him.

“Okay.” He replied, squeezing his eyes tight, gritting his teeth and turning his head away.

The arrow was harder to get out than I thought it would be, I pulled harder and sure enough, the arrow popped out, as soon as it came out, I quickly covered the wound with the handkerchief.

“Agh!” Kook yelped

“I warned you.” I replied.

To ensure that the handkerchief stayed in the same place I wrapped it around Kook’s arm securing it tightly with a double knot, pulling it tight Kook let out another yelp.

“Ow.”

“There is that better?” i asked.

“Much, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Where did you learn all that?”

“I was taught first aid, you can never be too careful. By the way, thanks again for saving me.”

“No problem.”

“But why did you save me?”

“We’re partners, and you’re new, I couldn’t just stand by and see you die like that. Anyway, you did the same for me.”

We got up to go when Kook started to sway, not only that he looked awfully pale, I grabbed his left arm to steady him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked concerned.

“I just feel a bit dizzy that’s all.”

“It’s most probably from loss of blood, will you be alright?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

I let go of his arm, as we walked on, he seemed to slow down, then stopping completely before fainting.

“Kook! Kook wake up! Please wake up.” I said panicking

I checked his heartbeat, it was very slow, so was his pulse, he was breathing but very faintly, there was something very wrong now, come on Nightingale, what did they teach you in first aid, yes, CPR, I got Kook onto his back, his lips were parted slightly, I performed the CPR twice when soldiers were running over, grabbing my sword, I fought them off one by one, no one else had seen us so we were safe for the time being. The CPR didn’t seem to be working, I was now really starting to panic.

“Come on Kook, please wake up.”

Another four times and Kook finally woke up, taking in a large gasp of air he bolted upright.

“What happened?” He asked.

“I saved your life a second time.” I replied.

“I meant what happened to me?”

“You fainted and your heart, pulse and breathing were starting to slow down, I had to do CPR.”

“You know CPR too?”

“Yeah, you could say that I’m multi talented.”

i was really glad that Kookaburra was alright, after just ten minutes, we’d won the battle, Splazzer City backed up and ran back to their kingdom, after a quick surrender, their king said and I quote, “Congratulations Splatalot, you have beaten us, we surrender, your army and defenders are too skilled and powerful for us, we shall bother you no longer.”

When we got back to the castle, we first of all had to treat all the wounds and injuries that we’d got from the battle, Faetal, Thorne, Ballista and Vane had a few cuts on their arms and legs, Gildar had a rather bad black eye and deep cut on his right leg, and of course Skabb had a number of wounds, he had cuts on his face, arms and legs, mind i guess that’s what he’s used to being a barbarian, obviously there was also Kook with his arrow wound. Getting a clean piece of cloth I soaked it in water before applying it to Kook’s wound to wash off the blood, before having to sew up the wound, I could tell that it hurt a fair bit due to the number of winces and cries that Kook gave.

“Ow.”

“Sorry, it’s the only way.”

“I know, I’m just not that good with pain.

After Kook’s wound was seen to, I could see to my own wounds and injuries. After working with Kook these past few days, I’ve come to see a few loving things about him, he’s kind, caring, lovable, has a good sense of humour and he makes me smile even when he doesn’t say something funny, maybe I like him, but I have to admit, he is pretty cute, I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

 

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Limey x

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 5 and 6

Here’s chapter 5 and 6 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Chapter 5 Faetal

I was rather excited about the training, I was first shown how to use the crossbow, then we could get started, me, Vane, Nightingale and Madeva were informed about how we would normally practise our fighting on the dummies before moving onto the actual fighting against each other, sort of mock fights, Nightingale seemed to struggle at some points and needed extra help, but eventually got the hang of it as did I, after 2 hours of training, we had a short break in order to get our breath back and to get a small review on how we seemed to be progressing.

“Right, everything seems to be going well.” said Knightriss.

“How do you think that we’re doing?” Vane asked, panting.

“Well…” Shaiden started. “You’re doing very well for first timers, but you just need to focus on your aim a bit more and just remember to keep your left foot ahead of your right foot when fighting.”

“Yeah, I think that I’ve got the hang of that now.” said Nightingale.

I’d only just got my breath back when we were getting back to training, I was now moving onto the actual fighting, and was put against Gildar, he was a rather tricky person to beat.

“Keep your shield up.” he said. “You keep on lowering it.”

I really don’t feel ready for anything like this, I’ve only been on the job for one day, but I’m going to do this, for his majesty the king and for the kingdom, we spent the rest of the day training and would be doing the same every day leading up to the battle, Tinkor didn’t do much of the training as he had to make sure that the catapult was ready, as the day got ever closer we could see that he was starting to struggle on his own, so one day we decided to put the weapons aside and helped him to get everything just right, more hands make lighter work, that way we were sure that it would be ready in time for the battle.

The day of the battle was pretty much around the corner and we were getting in the last bit of training before relaxing so we could calm ourselves down ready for the battle, from what I’ve heard about Splazzer City, they seem to be pretty advanced with their weapons and strategies, there wasn’t going to be just us at the battle obviously, there was also going to be a number of the kings soldiers with us, to even out the numbers.

I couldn’t get to sleep that night, I had to keep on getting out of bed and walk around the room a number fo times in order to tire myself out, it worked after the 10th time, it was probably half past eleven by the time I fell asleep. When I woke up that morning, I looked at the clock, it was 8 in the morning, I wasn’t due at the king’s quarters until another 45 minutes, but I got up anyway and got myself ready for my first battle.

Everyone was waiting outside by the time I got there, the king was already kitted out in all of his armour, he looked so regal, powerful and not to mention unbeatable.

“So, are you all prepared?” He asked us.

“Yes your highness.” said Crocness. “We’ve been training every day leading up to today.”

“Good, because Splazzer City can be a vicious bunch.

I was now starting to get pretty scared, we quickly went to breakfast before venturing off to the battle field. We were walking for what felt like miles, when we finally arrived we were confronted by an empty field, Splazzer City hadn’t arrived yet, but we weren’t waiting long, slowly they started to appear, venturing over the hill towards us, their army looked much bigger than ours, but I was convinced that they were around the same size as ours, they were still for around 2 minutes, before they started to charge towards us, we stayed put, waiting for the right moment, before deciding to charge.

“FOR THE KINGDOM OF SPLATALOT!” the king bellowed.

The battle had commenced.

Chapter 6 Kookaburra

As we charged across the field I could feel the wind rushing through my hair and could hear the sound of the wind whistling in my ears as well as the shouting from both us and Splazzer City, when the fighting started I was fighting like I’ve never fought before, all I thought was that I was doing this for the kingdom, I was getting myself into a Kookaburra frenzy, most of us were in a frenzy, Skabb was being his original barbaric self and Shaiden was almost flying across the field she was so fast

I was now battling against one of Splazzer City’s soldiers, and the king was right, they are vicious, this person seemed to be really focused on the idea of beating or maybe even killing me, I hope it was just to beat me, I don’t want to die yet, luckily I was much faster than him, so with a slash with my sword, a clang with the shield and another swipe with the sword and he was down in the ground, he was still, but he was breathing, I’d just knocked him out, charging across the field, fighting for the kingdom, i saw a familiar face, it was my arch enemy, one of Splazzer City’s defenders, Falcon.

“Well well, look what the cat dragged in.” he said getting ready to attack. “Kookaburra. What have you been bushing up on this week, singing? Dancing? Or have you just been up to nothing?”

“I’ll have you know that I’ve been training for this battle for the past week or so. So I’d be worried if I was you.” I replied getting into position.

We both lashed forward with our swords at the same time, there was a loud clash as our swords hit our shields, now I was inches away from him, I could see the look of mischief and plotting in his eyes.

“I see that your kingdom has some new defenders.”

“You bet, and they’re pretty powerful fighters.”

“I wouldn’t say powerful, but I’d say that some of them are certainly pretty. That chick in the black for starters.”

“That’s Nightingale and you stay away from her.”

“She a friend of yours?”

I was silent, I didn’t know how to answer that, but Falcon could read me like a book, he always could, as he stared at me, a smile seemed to grow on his face.

“You like her don’t you?”

“So what if I do, what are you gonna do about it?”

“Well, let’s just say that when I’ve finished with you, I’ve got the same thing in mind for her.”

“You keep your hands off her.”

“Just think, the Nightingale will soon be the Falcon’s prey.”

My heart started to pound, and my face was bubbling with anger, I could feel the anger running through my body, I could then hear the little Aussie in my head shout, “Kill him!” You can’t let him mess with your Sheilah!” I gripped my sword tighter, I have never fought with such emotion, Falcon looked almost stunned and frightened with my fighting skills, it wasn’t long before I had him also to the ground, as he lay there helpless, I stood above him with my sword pointing downwards, ready to strike.

“You’d never kill me.” he said.

“No I wouldn’t.” I replied “Just as long as you stay away from Nightingale.”

Lowering my sword I backed away, I felt like I’d really made a point there, the field was still as alive as ever with the sound of fighting, we seemed to be doing well, Splazzer City were starting to back away, but it wasn’t over yet. I looked to my right and Nightingale was fighting away I was really concerned for her, this was her first battle and I didn’t want her to get hurt, I was almost distracted by her beauty that  nearly didn’t notice someone running over to me.

This soldier was a difficult one to beat, they’ve obviously been a soldier for a long time, I couldn’t keep up with him and was pretty sure that I was going to be defeated, I was about to surrender, blocking his sword with my shield when I saw something that caught my eye and made my heart skip a beat, I saw Nightingale also struggling just as much as me, unknown to her, Falcon was neaking up behind her, brandishing his sword.

“NIGHTINGALE, LOOK OUT!” I shouted.

She didn’t hear me, a swipe of my sword and the soldier was down, and he didn’t get back up, I ran over to Nightingale and got in front of Falcon blocking him, before he had a chance to strike me or Nightingale, I struck him, slowly, he fell onto the ground, he took three deep breaths, exhaled and was still…I’d killed him…I rarely ever kill anyone.

“What are you doing?” Nightingale asked focussing on her fight.

“Saving your life.” I replied.

“Thanks.”

The battle continued for hours, we’d lost a number of soldiers, but not as many as Splazzer City, we were pretty confident that we were going to win, we every nearly lost some of our defenders, but we were free from any funerals…so far. I was fighting another soldier and seemed to be winning, he was backing away, I thought that this was going to be a quick and easy win, but I didn’t see the archer behind me, he was pulling the bow back ready to shoot, aiming for my back, just as he fired, I turned to my right letting the arrow hit me in my right arm, I’ve never experienced pain like it.

“Agh!” I screamed.

The pain was so agonizing, I dropped my weapons collapsing to the ground, surely I was done for now.

 

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Limey x

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapters 3 and 4

Here is both Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Chapter 3 Kookaburra

From what I’ve heard about Nightingale, she seems like the kind of defender that we need, while we were waiting for her to arrive, I was going through the questions that I was going to be asking, I was so focused with what I was doing that I didn’t even hear her walk into the room.

“Hello Nightingale, take a seat.” said Ballista.

I looked up, she had a short shaggy-style haircut a dark shade of brown, decorated with black feathers, her outfit was a black leather dress that was longer at the back and feathered at the rim, the front of the dress just came below he knees, she was wearing black leather gloves and thigh high leather boots, all decorated with feathers and across her shoulders she had shoulder pads just like mine except they were black, with black feathers, she was beautiful, as she walked over to the table the bottom of her dress almost seemed to glide along behind her, she sat down right in front of me, and my heart started to beat faster.

“It’s nice to meet you Nightingale.” said Thorne “I’m Thorne and this is Ballista and Kookaburra.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

Her voice was so gentle, as she smiled I couldn’t help but notice her teeth they were beautifully white, almost unnatural, and straight, like everyone else that we’ve interviewed we had to shake hands, as she shook my hand I felt a tingle of electricity run up my arm and into my shoulder.

“So what made you want to become a defender of the castle?” Ballista asked.

“Well it just seemed like my kind of job, I can be very determined in what I’m doing and I can be a very protective person.”

“So if you were asked to do something, you’d do it?”

“Absolutely.”

After Ballista asked her questions it then became my turn, suddenly I’d forgotten every single question that I was going to ask, luckily I had them written down in front of me.

“Kook, don’t you have some questions?” Ballista asked me.

The only question going through my mind right now was, “Will you marry me?”, keep it together Kook, you’re a professional, don’t let yourself down, I took a deep breath to relax.

“Yes…erm…so what do you…err…what skills do you have that you think make you…er…makes you right for this job?”

“Well, like I said, I’m determined, I can be very focused on things that I’ve been asked to do and my vision is pretty good so I could see any attackers coming from a vast distance away.”

Good news and bad news, the good news is that I think that she would be perfect for the job and with her good vision that would make her perfect for lookout duty which can mean that I’ll no longer be on my own, but the bad news is that with her being on lookout duty with me, that may distract me, because to tell you the truth….I think that I may be in love with her.

I couldn’t get to sleep that night, whenever I closed me eyes all I saw was Nightingale’s face, her bright smile, those eyes, the way she bites her lip, those lips, oh those lips and her hair, how I wished that I could run my hand through her hair. I must have been thinking about her until midnight, now I was starting to feel sleepy, my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and my head was now starting to tilt to one side, soon I was fast asleep.

“Kook! Kook, wake up!” I heard Thorne say the next morning.

“Huh?” I replied drowsily.

“Hurry up, we’ve got the interview call backs in 20 minutes.”

“Chute, I forgot all about that.”

I jumped up and got myself ready in double quick time, me and Thorne were almost running down the corridor.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you these days Kook, you seem sort of distracted.” said Thorne.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“What is it?”

“I guess it’s just the thought of having some new defenders around the castle.”

I didn’t want to tell Thorne about my crush on Nightingale, I thought that it wasn’t the right time. Everyone was pretty much ready for the second half of the interviews when we arrived, we thought yesterday morning that we should test the applicants on how they cope with some of the duties we often get, the first one was going to test them on guarding the castle, one of us was going to pose as someone trying to get into the castle and the applicants would have to try and catch us out.

The second test was going to test them on their defences, some of  us were going to pose as attackers and attempt to attack the castle their role was to protect the castle and stop us from getting too close, then the final test was going to test them on lookout, one of us was going to approach the castle via the woods next door, and their job was to spot us before we got too close and sound the alarm, we had to inform everyone else that if they heard the attack alarm this morning, not to panic as it was all part of the interview.

Nightingale, Vane, Madeva and another defender going by the name of Faetal were the best out of everyone, out of the 10 that we interviewed, we only called back 8 and would pick the 4 best and announce it to them this afternoon. When the tests were over, me, Ballista and Thorne were deciding who out of the eight we were going to chose, so that afternoon we called them in one by one to give them the news, we’d already given the news to 5 of them and out of those 7 we’d picked 3 we’d chosen Vane, Madeva and Faetal, Nightingale was next, I tried my best to stay professional and to stay calm, when she entered the room my heart started to beat faster and my hands started to tremble, I quickly hid them under the table so she wouldn’t notice.

“So Nightingale, how do you think you did?” Asked Ballista.

“Well, I think that I could have done a bit better with the guarding, but I thought that the defence and the lookout went quite well.”

“And do you think that you may have done well enough to get the job?”

“I don’t know, I thought that was down to you.”

I sniggered, she’s a bit of a joker, that’s good, I quite like that.

“Okay, now we all thought that you did best in the lookout and the defence, and we would pretty much like to see how you would do with help and assistance with others.”

“Do you mean?”

“Yes, we’d like to offer you the job.”

“Oh thank you, thank you so much.”

It was obvious that she was happy about this, and so was I, but the rest of the wannabe defenders weren’t that happy when we told them that we’d decided to turn them down, now we had our 4 new defenders, things might finally change around here, such as, some of the duties changing or some more jobs may become available now there’s more of us, Vane, Faetal, Madeva and Nightingale moved into the castle that very afternoon, the king was going to tell us the changes tomorrow morning, Vane, Faetal, Madeva and Nightingale had already been told about what happens in the mornings when we normally go to see the king for him to give us our morning duties.

**********

The next morning I was one of the first ones there, Ballista, Gildar, Faetal and Nightingale were already there, Gildar and Ballista were giving Faetal and Nightingale some tips on defending.

“Morning.” I said.

“Oh morning Kook.” Ballista replied.

“Are you two ready for your first duties?” I asked Faetal and Nightingale.

“Yeah, we’ve been looking forward to it.” Nightingale replied.

“Er…great…excellent…well…good luck.”

“Are you alright Kook?” Asked Gildar.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

We were waiting a bit longer than usual as Vane and Madeva happened to get lost, but you’d expect that on someone’s first day, that happened to me my first couple of days, instead of a map of the castle on the king’s table, he had a long list which he was examining as we walked in.

“Your highness.” we said.

“Morning everyone, and hello to the newcomers.” said the king “Now there are going to be some drastic changes around here, so I think that we should start with the duties, one of those changes is that you’re all going to be given a permanent duty from now on, to start with, Gildar, Ballista, Shaiden, Skabb, Crocness, Vane and Faetal you’re all going to be on defense, Madeva and Knightriss, you two will be on guard, Thorne and Tinkor, you two are going to be making and repairing the weapons, and Kookaburra and Nightingale, you two will be on lookout.”

Great, I was on lookout with Nightingale…oh no! I’m going to be with her all day, I don’t know if I’d be able to cope with that…well…I’m not going to be with her all day, i was going to be on lookout for 45 minutes and Gildar, Vane, Knightriss, Tinkor and Shaiden were going to be on duty while Crocness, Skabb, Ballista, Thorne, Madeva and Nightingale were going to have their breakfast break, then after my 45 minutes on duty we would swap over so that we could go on our break, I thought that was pretty reasonable, but I’m still going to be with Nightingale for most of the day.

After me and Nightingale had swapped over and I’d been for my break, it was now down to business, when I got to the top of the lookout tower Nightingale was over to the left, she had her back to me, I tried not to look at her else I was sure that she’d distract me, i was about to turn to the right side of the tower when I heard her voice.

“Hi Kook.” she said.

Her voice went straight through me melting my heart, my hands started to tremble and my legs turned to jelly.

“Err…hi.” I stuttered.

“The others told me that you get this duty a lot is that right?”

“Yeah, you could say that, everyday I get it.”

“So you’re a professional then?”

“Pretty much.”

I couldn’t take in what was happening, she was talking to me, I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I thought that I might do what I do best, joking, maybe break the ice a bit.

“So…err…what do you think of the duty so far?” I asked.

“It’s okay, I don’t think that could do it on my own though, I’d get bored too easily.”

“Yeah, that used to happen to me when I got this duty, but do you know what I used to do to keep me occupied?”

“No what?”

“I used to spy on the others.”

“Really? What kind of things did you see?”

“Well, I once saw Gildar kissing his own reflection.”

“Yeah he does seem like the kind of guy who’d do that, obsessed with how he looks.”

“Yeah, he’s even started a fan club for all the people who love him, members: him.”

Nightingale laughed. “You’re really funny.”

“Thanks, they don’t call me ‘the joker’ for nothing you know.”

She laughed again, she had the cutest laugh I’ve ever heard. This was brilliant, finally I had someone to talk to whilst on duty, the time just flew by, as the air started to get cooler and the sky started to go a subtle shade of orange, we could tell that the day was coming to a close, we still had another hour or so until we could retire from our duties and finally go to bed, which I am relieved about as my legs and feet are throbbing like never before from being up there all day, but I couldn’t wait until tomorrow when I could come back up here to be with Nightingale.

 

Chapter 4 Nightingale

Kookaburra seems like a really friendly guy, but he was acting kind of nervous today, he must have been a bit shy, I was really enjoying my time as a defender and could really get used to it, I was glad that the king had given me lookout duty as it’s what I seem to be best at and it’s also my favorite duty, but I was relieved when it was over for my feet were aching like they’ve never ached before, when I got into my nest I fell asleep almost immediately, but was awoken in the middle of the night by someone knocking on my bedroom door, clambering up half asleep, I answered to see who would want to speak to me at this time of night, stood in the doorway was the king’s messenger, he seemed very upset and concerned

“Nightingale, the king would like to speak to you immediately.” he said.

“What does he wish to speak to me about?”

“He wishes to speak to all of you.”

This can’t be good, the king wishes to speak to us at midnight, I was out of my room and down the corridor straight away just in my nightclothes, Faetal, Gildar, Skabb, Vane, Knightriss and Madeva were already there, I didn’t recognise them at first, they all looked so different without their outfits, Ballista, Thorne, Shaiden, Kookaburra, Crocness and Tinkor weren’t that far behind me.

“What do you expect the king wants to speak to us about?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Can’t be good.” said Tinkor.

Quickly Gildar knocked on the door, the king invited us in and we all dashed inside the king seemed very concerned and worried about something, he was stood with his hands flat on his desk shaking his head.

“Your majesty, what’s the emergency?” Asked Skabb.

“I’m afraid something terrible has happened.” said the king turning towards the window. “We seem to have angered our rival kingdom, and they’re planning to attack…everyone….we’re at war.”

War? I’ve only been on the job for one day and we’re already going into battle, I don’t even know what to do, we were going to have to spend the days leading up to the battle training, me, Madeva, Faetal and Vane will probably be needing more training than everyone else as we’re the new ones.

I couldn’t get back to sleep that night, I couldn’t help but think about the battle, the training was going to start tomorrow morning, I was both excited but also nervous both at the same time.

The next morning I was up bright and early, earlier than we would normally get up, we went for a quick breakfast and then went for the training, while we were having breakfast we were talking about what we were going to do about this war.

“So who is it that we’re up against?” I asked.

“Well, we’re known as the modern medieval kingdom, we only have one enemy, the medieval modern kingdom of Splazzer City.” said Thorne. “They’re always trying to overtake and modernize the kingdom.”

“Who’d want to change anything around here?”

“Well they would for a start.” said Kookaburra laughing.

“So what are we going to do?”

“Well, Tinkor has been working through the night making some new weapons for you guys, so we can start training once Tinkor’s had a little lie down.” Gildar explained.

I wondered what was going to happen in the training, I had a vague idea of us maybe using dummies and targets to test our fighting skills and our aim, after a quick breakfast, we went outside into the courtyard, we weren’t even out there for even a minute when Tinkor arrived with the weapons, he looked exhausted the poor love, everyone got their weapons and me, Madeva, Vane and Faetal were shown which ones were ours, we all had a sword and shield each but there was an extra weapon for each of us, me and Kookaburra both had slingshots, Ballista had a crossbow along with Gildar and Faetal, Skabb was given a club and spear, Shaiden had her samurai sword, Vane was given a bow and arrow and Madeva, Knightriss and Thorne were all going to be working the catapult that Tinkor was working on right now. Now we were armed and ready for the training to begin.

 

Limey x

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 2

Here’s chapter 2 from Kookaburra’s Juliet

Chapter 2 Ballista

Just before our break was over I went to speak to the king, personally I think that Kookaburra should be telling the king, it was him who was complaining in the first place, as I approached the kings quarters, I told the guard outside what my business was.

“Could I speak to the king please?” I asked.

“Well, his majesty is rather busy at the moment but I’m sure that he could spare a bit of time, I’ll go and let him know that you’re here.”

He then knocked on the door and opened it slightly.

“Your highness, Ballista’s here, she wishes to have a word with you.”

“Okay, send her in.” said the king.

The guard stepped aside and allowed me to go past, as I entered the room, the door closed behind me.

“Your highness.” I said curtsying, the king was sat at his desk with a piece of parchment in front of him and a quill pen in his right hand, putting the quill down he looked up at me.

“So Ballista, what can I help you with?” he asked.

“Well sire, me and the other defenders were talking just now and we think that it would be a good idea if we got some new defenders into the castle as Kook thinks that seeing as how things aren’t really changing much, that we’re starting to become a bit predictable making us much more vulnerable to attacks.”

“Yes, I see what you mean, do all of you agree with this?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll have a think about it and I’ll let you all know tomorrow, thank you Ballista.”

“You’re welcome sire.”

Curtsying again, I left the room, at least that he was going to think about it and let us know tomorrow, as I walked down the corridor, the others were just on their way back to their duties.

“So what did the king say?” Asked Knightriss.

“He said that  he’s going to think about it and let us know tomorrow.”

“Hallelujah.” said Kook.

I think that it’s easy to say that we’re all happy with the thought of some new defenders helping around the castle keeping our defences strong and powerful.

***********

The next day I was up bright and early, I have to with the amount of time it takes me to get ready, I washed my face, quickly brushed my hair, applied my makeup, got dressed and left the room for the kings quarters, Shaiden, Gildar, Crocness and Kookaburra were already there and others weren’t that far behind me, so we were could now enter and see what the king thought about our suggestion, this time he wasn’t stood by the table as usual, intead he was over by the window looking out over the kingdom, I noticed that Kook had his fingers crossed.

“Your highness.” We said together.

“Morning everyone.” The king replied turning back towards us. “I’m sure that you’re all aware about the message that Ballista gave me yesterday from you all, well I’ve come to a decision on what we’re going to do.”

We held our breath.

“I’ve been looking into how things have been going for you all, and I’ve noticed that some of you are struggling with the lack of assistance, so I’ve sent out a message letting people know that we’re looking for some new defenders for the kingdom.”

I heard Kookaburra let out a small sigh of relief.

“Thank you sire.” said Knightriss. “But could I just suggest someone for the job?”

“Of course.”

“Well my younger sister Madeva is also a knight like me and I’m sure that she’ll be happy to defend here, she can be a bit crazy at some times, but she’s also very determined.”

“Well thank you for the suggestion Knightriss, if you could ask her to come for an interview then that would be superb.”

The king told us that we would have to do the interviews for we know the best about what we need the new defenders to be like, there was going to be three of us doing the interviewing, we decided amongst us that me, Thorne and Kookaburra were going to do the interviews, the first was is 3 days.

3 days later and we got everything ready for the interviews, our first wannabe defender was called Vane, his interview seemed to go rather well, he seemed like a determined kind of guy and would happily take on anything, we were going to see how he’d do in the second half of the interview which was going to test him on how he’d cope within the castle and things that some of our enemies would try to throw at us, such as trying to get into the castle and attempting to attack, we were going to do all this on the same day, but we were pushed for time so we were going to have to do this tomorrow as a call-back.

We had 10 people to interview in total and had now interviewed 9 including Knightriss’s younger sister Madeva, and she was right, she is a very determined person, and the fact that she can be a bit crazy, our last defender to interview was all the way from Britain and went by the name of Nightengale.

 

Read the rest of the story at http://www.wattpad.com

Limey x

Kookaburra’s Juliet Chapter 1

Here is the first chapter of Kookaburra’s Juliet. Enjoy.

Chapter 1 Kookaburra

It was another morning and another day at the Splatalot castle, things weren’t really changing, like every day I’d get up out of my nest, then me and the other defenders would see the king for him to give us our morning duties before breakfast, I’ll normally be on lookout, Gildar and Ballista would be on defence, not that they do much defence as there’s not been as many attacking’s over the past week or so, Knightriss would be guarding the gates, Tinkor would be creating the weapons and Crocness, Thorne, Shaiden and Skabb would be given and jobs left over, I wish that I could be given something else than lookout, it can get very boring and lonely up there on your own.

A quick ruffle of the feathers, adjustment of the hair, and putting on my boots and goggles I was now ready for his majesty’s commands, as I left my room Gildar was just walking down the corridor.

“Morning.” He said cheerfully

I sighed. “Yeah morning.”

“What’s up with you? What happened to the always laughing always joking Kookaburra you normally are?”

“I’m just not feeling myself.”

“You can say that again, come on there’s something on your mind, so what is it?”

“Well, I’ve just got this feeling that I’m going to be put on lookout duty.”

“What’s bad about that? I’d rather be on lookout duty, anyway, you do the job really well.”

“Yeah, but that’s the duty I always get, it can be pretty lonely and boring up there on your own, I don’t know why the king always chooses me.”

“Like I said, it’s probably because you’re so good at it.”

Shaiden, Thorne and Ballista were already at the king’s quarters we were just waiting for a few of the others and we were ready to enter, we weren’t waiting for a few of the others and we were ready to enter, we weren’t waiting more than 2 minutes, Ballista stepped forward and gently knocked on the door, despite that it was a gentle knock it still seemed loud.

“Enter.” The king beckoned.

We could then open the doors and entered the room, the king was stood where he normally stands at the normal table that he stands at with a map of the castle in front of him on the table as normal.

“Your Highness.” We all said simultaneously, bowing.

“So what are our morning duties today sire?” Thorne asked.

“Yes, your duties, Thorne and Shaiden, you two are going to be on defence, Knightriss, you’ll be on the gates, Tinkor, you’ll be making the weapons, Kookaburra, you’ll be on lookout and Gildar and Ballista, you two can help Tinkor with the weapons, Crocness, you can assist Knightriss and Skabb you can assist Shaiden and Thorne.”

Great, lookout again for me, but everyone else was getting help, why can’t I, not that I need help, it would just be nice to have someone to talk to.

I knew where I had to go, over to the lookout tower, the tallest tower in the castle and will basically stay there all morning, maybe all day, sometimes while I’m up there I could do with some help as when I need to keep lookout, that means everywhere, so I’ll have to keep on changing position, as if my legs and feet weren’t aching enough already.

Getting to the top of the tower my legs were throbbing and y lungs were burning, i should be used to it by now, but it does have it’s up sides, the view is fantastic for starters, from where I was I could see Knightriss and Crocness by the gates, and Skabb with Shaiden and Thorne all of them were talking and having a good time, no doubt that Gildar, Ballista and Tinkor were also talking and having a real laugh whilst working, and again I’ll be up here on my own with no company.

Between our shifts we would get 30 minute breaks, while everyone else was catching up on the gossip, I was sat thinking to myself when I was soon interrupted.

“Are you feeling alright Kook?” Shaiden asked.

“No, not really.” I replied.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s lookout duty.”

“What about it?” Asked Skabb.

“It’s boring, I get it everyday.”

“Why don’t you tell the king?”

“Tell the king? Like I’d do that, he’s the one that gave me the job, if he wants me to do it then I’ve got to.”

“Well, just ask the king if he could give you some different duties from time to time.”

I sighed. “It’s not the duty, I love being on lookout duty, it’s just that it gets boring and sometimes lonely. That’s another problem there’s just not enough jobs going around and it’s been like this for too long, I think that we’re becoming too easy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when we get attacked, they’re starting to figure out our strengths and weaknesses and are starting to use them against us, do you see what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“We could do with some new defenders.” Ballista suggested. “Keep this place going.”

“Good idea.” said Thorne. “But who’s going to tell the king?”

“Not me!” We all said simultaneously.

“Ballista, it was your suggestion, maybe you should.” said Gildar.

Ballista sighed. “Fine.”

I was glad that it wasn’t me giving the news to the king, even though it was me who started it, but I was hoping that the king would go along with it, it would be nice to have some new defenders around, which means that that would be some extra help, so finally I may no longer be on my own whilst on lookout.

 

Hope you liked this chapter, remember, there are more chapters from this story at http://www.wattpad.com.

Limey x

Kookaburra’s Juliet (A Splatalot Fan Fiction)

 

This is a story that I am writing at the moment, and is about the Splatalot defender Kookaburra, and is basically dedicated to James Elmer, the story is set around the Splatalot castle as if it’s a real place, I decided to go with just the one king or queen throughout the story as I couldn’t cope with a new king or queen every week, like it the show, and in case you haven’t gathered from the picture, it’s a love story, and is based on the play Romeo and Juliet with a twist, and just so you know, none of the main characters die and it is a happy ending, here’s the story line: Kookaburra is fed up with being on lookout duty at the Splatalot castle so some new defenders are hired to keep everything going, but Kook soon falls in love with the young British defender called Nightingale who I have made up, she’s not actually a defender on the show, sadly, Kook is so in love with Nightingale he completely forgets about the rule about defenders and relationships, and that being that they can’t be in relationships, only if they’re blood related it’s acceptable, but Kook is determined to not let that get in his way, and is sure that he is one day going to be with the woman that he loves.

As the story is progressing I shall be posting up chapters and you can also read the story on http://www.wattpad.com

Limey x