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This book is dedicated to my Mum for forcing me to read.
THE FORTRESS
By George P. Wood
Chapter.1 Escape to Cryley Page 2
Chapter.2 Blundey in the Fortress Page 4
Chapter.3The Plan Page 6
Chapter.4The Strange Ghost Page 7
Chapter.5 Rescuing Daniel and the Battle Page 9
Chapter.6 Freedom Page 12
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Chapter.1 Escape to Cryley
In the deep dark forest of Cryley…
There stood, a gigantic fortress. It was called Zox Fortress. A horrible old man named
Zox ruled the fortress with his three slaves. Anyone who set foot on the forest got taken to the
fortress. Zox would keep these people hostage and torture them to death. One of these people
was a middle-aged man named Daniel Hick. He had been caught walking on the edge of the
forest. He has a son called Blundey Hick who now lives in an orphanage in a town, 50 km away
called Origami-nic. But, this adventure is about Blundey, not Daniel. So, we will now travel to
Origami-nic to see what he is up too.
ORIGAMI-NIC
Origami-nic is a very small country town. There were no more than 500 people living
there. There was an orphanage. It was an old, bland-looking building. The building had grey
windows, grey walls, everything was grey.
In one of the rooms inside the orphanage was a boy named Blundey. He was a cheerful
and kind boy of thirteen years of age. But, inside, he felt sad. He longed to see his dad again.
They had got separated when Blundey was only two years old. Blundey occasionally sent e-
mails to his dad because the fortress had computers and all the latest electronics.
One day, Blundey decided that it was no use just sitting and hoping. He needed to help
his dad who was getting tortured. Blundey’s plan was to leave the orphanage at night, and go by
taxi to the Fortress. He packed a few things in a small suitcase. He left the orphanage quietly
and went outside to wait for a taxi. After waiting, a long time, Blundey realized at Origami-nic
was a small town, it was 10:00pm. You would have been lucky to get a taxi by waiting five
hours. Blundey decided to go on the train instead.
The train was painfully slow, and the ride was super-boring. Blundey kept looking out the
window to try and spot something interesting. But all he could see were trees, trees, and more
tress.
After 45 minutes, the train finally arrived. There was no one else on the platform. It was
fairly chilly, so Blundey walked briskly to the edge of the Cryley Forest. In the forest, he had to
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be extremely quiet, and careful because most of the trees had speakers on, which connected to
the fortress speakers. This is how Zox found out if anybody was trespassing. Blundey took his
first steps into the forest and prayed that he wouldn’t be caught.
Back at the fortress, Zox was having his night meeting with his three slaves.
“Next week”, he roared, “Daniel will be having another torture session.”
“Is th-”, one of the slaves started to ask a question, but Zox cut him off.
“Silence!” he screeched. “I haven’t finished talking yet! Today, I found 10 horrible men
walking in my forest. I said to them that they would be executed immediately. But, then I had
an idea. I said that if you guys became one of my guards, I wouldn’t kill you. They happily
agreed, so now I have 10 brand new guards guarding the cells downstairs in the dungeon. Now,
does anyone have any questions?”
“Is there a chance that Daniel, or the other prisoners could escape?” one of the slaves
asked.
“Escape!?” spluttered Zox. “There is no way those puny prisoners could escape!” He
suddenly paused. “Although, on second thoughts,” said Zox, grinning evilly, “I do have a magic
potion that can turn anyone into a powerful dinosaur if they drink it. But, there is absolutely no
way that Daniel or the other prisoners would be drinking that. Three of my guards will be
protecting it.” He smiled horribly.
Suddenly, there was a huge smash of glass, and also the sounds of a big marble statue
topple over. The noise seemed to be coming from the fortress main entrance. It made a gigantic
CRASH! When it fell down on the hard ground.
“What the heck was that?!” cried Zox taken aback. “Get five of my guards to check
where the noise is coming from!”
Five guards came sprinting up from the dungeon downstairs. They ran over to the broken
objects. There was silence for a few moments. Then they heard a guard yell, “We have found
someone here!”
“Bring this person to me”, said Zox.
Five guards came back to the main room. The guards were carrying something rather
heavy. In the middle of them, a person was tied up and gagged. It was Blundey.
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Chapter.2 Blundey in the Fortress
Blundey struggled to get himself free, but the ropes were too tight. Zox strode over to
meet him. Blundey looked up at the horrible figure and gasped. Zox was terrifying to look at.
He had rotten teeth that stuck out, triangular fingers and toes, a ghastly wig and ear-rings with
dead snakes hanging off the diamonds.
“Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!” laughed Zox, showing his rotten teeth. “I believe this is the stupid
son of stupid Daniel?”
“My Dad and I are not stupid!” Blundey yelled and spluttered. It was hard to speak with
the gag.
“Don’t you dare speak to me in that manner!” squawked Zox. His cheeks had now turned
bright red with anger. Zox eventually calmed down a little.
“I have a little surprise for you”, continued Zox calmly. “You will be taken downstairs.
Next week, your dear little papa Daniel will be tortured to death. You will have the pleasure to
watch him die. You will be tortured next. Do you understand me?”
Blundey didn’t want to answer.
Zox started to loose his patience. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” he screamed like a
madman. Finally, Blundey answered. “I don’t want to understand you, you horrible little,
plankton-headed, slug-eating pig!”
Zox’s cheeks became dark purple, but he stormed away without saying anything else. He
clearly thought it was a waist of time.
Blundey felt someone knock his shoulder. A guard, who was extremely fat, was standing
in front of him. “We’re going to take you down to your cell now”, he said roughly.
Blundey walked down the cold, steep stairs to the dungeon. The dungeon was almost
pitch-black, and it stank of rotten bodies. Cell 26 was Blundey’s cell. The guard pushed him in,
and slammed the gate shut. He locked the gate with a big iron stick.
“Now”, barked the guard. “I am going to tell you some very important rules. You will
have a chance to go to the toilet once a day at noon. If you need to go again, you can’t. That is
something you will get used to over time. In the morning, we will be coming around with
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buckets. Anything that came out of your bladder before or after noon will go in the bucket.
Mealtimes are very simple to remember: there are no mealtimes. See, I told you it was simple.
Do you have any further questions?”
“No”, answered Blundey glumly. Luckily he had bought some food in his suitcase.
“Wonderful”, said the guard cheerfully. “Have a great day!”
With that, he climbed back up the stairs to the main room.
Six days later, things weren’t getting any better. In fact, they were getting worse.
Blundey’s dad would be getting tortured tomorrow at 04:00 sharp. Every night, Blundey
listened to the evening and night meetings upstairs. They didn’t talk about anything interesting.
Five people had been tortured and killed since Blundey had arrived. Three people had been
captured.
It was 21:55 and Blundey was having some difficulty getting to sleep just like the last
five nights, but, tonight especially, because of tomorrow. Blundey hadn’t thought of a decent
plan yet. After all, that is why he had come here in the first place, to rescue his dad. Also, the
mattress Zox had given him “through great kindness” as Zox had said was only 1cm thick. It
was very soft, and Blundey didn’t want to damage his back. Upstairs, the night meeting was
about to begin.
“We shall now start the meeting”, screamed Zox in usual manner. “As I have told you
before a few days ago, I have a magic potion. From that day onwards, we have captured three
more people. We only have ten guards, so I have decided that the potion is not worth guarding.
I will be disposing it tomorrow. And, make sure we all get an early night tonight. Daniel’s
torture session starts at 04:00 sharp.”
The meeting went on for a little while longer, but Blundey wasn’t listening anymore. He
was thinking very hard. The Potion! , he thought excitedly. Maybe that could help rescue his
dad. But how could he escape out of his cell. There were ten guards, and three slaves walking
around. At least tonight they would be having their “early night” by going to bed at 23:00
instead of 02:00. Blundey looked around his cell to see if he could find any tools to help him
escape out of his cell. But after a long search, all he found was a shell, a stick and a small
pebble. This is useless, thought Blundey. But, all of a sudden, he thought he might have had a
teeny weeny bit of an idea.
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Chapter.3The Plan
The stick! He thought. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a big paperclip.
Blundey finally thought he had a decent plan.
At midnight, or tonight at 22:45, a guard or slave would come down to the dungeon, and
check to see whether everybody was sound asleep. A guard came and Blundey was pretending
to be asleep. Just as the guard passed, Blundey sprang forward, grabbed the guard through the
holes of his cell gate. Blundey quickly clipped the paperclip onto a thick piece of cotton on the
guard’s jacket. It was quite easy, because this guard happened to be very small, so he didn’t
struggle very much. Blundey pulled and pulled, and just as the man was about to come crashing
down to the ground, Blundey got hold of him, and lowered gently. He didn’t want Zox or the
guards and slaves to hear anything. Blundey pulled a key from the guard’s jacket, and pushed it
through the cell gate lock. Blundey bonked the guard on the head to make him faint. Blundey
put the key down, and opened the gate quietly. It made a horrible creaking sound, and he hoped
Zox didn’t hear it. Blundey put the key in his pocket. He was free at last!
He walked up the steps to the main room, and tried to find the magic potion. The main
room was nearly pitch-black, and no one was around. Blundey soon found it because it was the
only box that was colourful. Blundey opened the box carefully, and read the label on the small
bottle. It said: “MAGIC POTION - NOT TO BE TAKEN FOR CHILDREN UNDER FIVE
YEARS OF AGE”. There was another bottle next to the potion, but he couldn’t read it because
the label was printed in very dark letters. Blundey opened up the magic potion. Inside there was
a disgusting looking purple liquid. At that moment, a low growling sound came from the
dungeons.
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Chapter.4 The Strange Ghost
The sound turned Blundey’s blood cold. Without thinking, he grabbed the magic potion
and started to drink. He nearly vomited at the taste. It tasted of snot and worms mixed together.
At once, Blundey’s body began to change. He was growing taller, his skin was becoming
wrinkly. Long claws were also growing out of his hands and feet. After a few minutes of
changing, he looked at himself. He had transformed into a triceratops.
The growling sound from the dungeon had stopped too. Blundey began to slowly walk
down the stairs. But, at the end of the stairs, something was blocking his way. As Blundey
moved closer, he realized that this thing was getting paler. It was a ghost. The ghost’s head was
almost hanging off.
“What are you doing here?” croaked the ghost menacingly. He was carrying a long metal
stick. “You thought that you were going to get away just by drinking that potion. I have also
given Zox and his guards and slaves a medicine that keep them unconscious for thirty minutes.
You see, I hate Zox. I know he wants to kill you. But I want to kill you! So, now is my chance!”
He let out a horrible shriek, and lunged after Blundey the dinosaur. Immediately, Blundey
dashed into Zox’s bedroom. He expected to find some really good weapons there. But he found
none. He looked inside all the cupboards, and drawers. He could hear the ghost gliding toward
the bedroom. “Here I come!” he croaked. Desperate now, Blundey looked under Zox’s bed. He
found a small metal box. He opened it with his powerful claws. In the box there was a small
dagger embroided with diamonds and other valuable stones. He felt a glimmer of relief. He
pulled the dagger out of the box. The ghost glided into the bedroom.
“It looks like we are going to have a little battle!” he croaked.
Blundey lunged at the ghost bravely, and began to twist and turn his dagger wildly. The
ghost had his long metal magic stick that produced red electricity. The light flashed out, but
Blundey deflected the first blow. But, the ghost wasn’t stupid. He did a summersault and landed
right behind Blundey. Instantly, the ghost shook his stick, and a zap of red light flashed out, and
hit Blundey in the stomach. Luckily not in the face, or this would have meant certain death.
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“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” screamed Blundey in agony, and fell down. The ghost towered over
him.
“Ha Ha Ha Ha!” he croaked. “I have defeated you, puny dinosaur!”
“Think again”, Blundey cried weakly. Grunting, we heaved himself up to his unsteady
legs. He began waving his dagger randomly, left and right. Each time the dagger slashed
through the air, it made a whoosh sound, like a wing blowing. One of the blows was a little bit
too close the ghost, that he dropped his magic stick in surprise. At that instant, Blundey slashed
through the ghost’s body.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” croaked the ghost. It dropped to the ground, lifeless.
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Chapter.5 Rescuing Daniel and the Battle
Blundey didn’t have any time to celebrate his victory. He was now changing back to
human form, and Zox and the others would regain consciousness in about fifteen minutes.
Blundey dashed around the cells to try and find where his dad was. Blundey found Daniel’s cell,
and opened it with the key that Blundey had got from the guard earlier. Daniel looked up,
frightened.
“W- W-What d-do y-y-you w-want?”
“I’ll explain later”, was Blundey’s brisk reply. He went around all the cells, and unlocked
them all.
“Who are you anyway?” asked Daniel curiously.
“I’m Blundey, your son. Now, could you please not ask anymore questions? I’m really
busy here.”
Daniel was very surprised, but he simply nodded, and walked away. Blundey went to the
main room, and found a telephone. He dialled 111. He called for the police.
“Hello? We are at the Cryley Forest, Zox Fortress. Could you please come as soon as
possible? Thank you.” He hung up.
Blundey glanced toward the pile of men. Zox was at the top of the pile. But, to Blundey’s
shock, they were stating to move! Zox’s eyelids flickered, and then opened completely. When
he saw Blundey, Zox’s face turned dark purple. He stood up. His face was twisted with rage.
“You thought you were going to get away with this!” he shrieked like a madman. “Well, you’re
wrong! You will have to fight me, AND kill me if you are to escape from here!”
“Fine!” shouted Blundey.
Zox stood up higher, and from inside his robes, he took a gleaming sword. He also took
out a huge iron shield. Without saying anything else, he hurled himself at Blundey, who was
charging toward him. Blundey got out his dagger, and deflected Zox’s first blow.
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“You will never get away with this, you filthy little pig that has swine flu!” Zox
screeched and cursed.
The two weapons clashed and scraped against each other. Then, Zox dropped his sword,
flew into the air, and banged Blundey on the head with his huge iron shield. Blundey fell to the
ground.
“Ha!” Zox shouted with triumph. “You have lost. Now I am goi-”
There was a bang and a flash of red light. Blundey stood up panting, and turned around.
He saw Daniel holding the magic stick the ghost had been holding.
“Hi Zoxy”, he said casually. “Having trouble?”
“This isn’t over yet Danny Boy!” thundered Zox. He grabbed a bottle that was not far
away. Blundey realized that it was the bottle sitting next to the magic potion he had taken
earlier. He couldn’t read the label then, but now he could because it was lighter outside. It read:
“MAGIC POTION EXTRA-STRONG - CHILDREN UNDER 12 YEARS OF AGE SHOULD
NOT DRINK THIS”.
Blundey nearly fainted with shock.
Zox walked back toward Daniel. Zox gulped down the entire bottle.
At once, Zox’s face and body began to change. His hands were disappearing, and hairy
feet were growing. He was growing so much. He didn’t stop when he reached the ceiling. The
ceiling crashed and it exploded. It wasn’t until Zox grew another five metres, that he stopped
growing. He was a gigantic, horrific, murderous Mammoth.
Blundey and Daniel stared up at the Mammoth in horror. At the same time, the ten guards
and three slaves came marching up the stairs from the dungeon. They were all carrying magic
sticks. Instantly, Daniel shook his magic stick with all his might. A huge zap of red light came
bursting out. It hit the guards and slaves, and they were completely unaware of the attack. They
all fell down dead. Daniel and Blundey picked up their magic sticks.
Sirens filled the room. Three policemen came sprinting from their cars to the Fortress.
The gaped when they saw the gigantic Mammoth, but they bravely walked up to it.
“You’re under arr-”
Zox the Mammoth lifted his huge trunk. He caught the three policemen who had now
fainted with shock. Zox swung his trunk, and the three policemen went flying away.
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Suddenly, Daniel shouted “NOW!!!”
He and Blundey shook their magic sticks, and fifteen huge zaps of light flew out, hitting
the Mammoth on the head. The mammoth gave a huge “ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!”
CRASH!!!!
The Mammoth fell down dead.
Blundey and Daniel stood there, frozen as statues.
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Chapter.6 Freedom
More sirens filled the silent room. Ten more policemen armed with guns came charging
into the room.
“Ah”, said one of relieved and happy. “You got that stupid Mammoth at last”.
One day later, Blundey and Daniel were having a picnic in the Cryley Forest.
The scientists had decided to keep the Mammoth, and put it in a museum. The scientists
had stuffed it, and made a medicine to keep Zox stay like a Mammoth forever. It was now a
major tourist’s attraction. Suddenly, Blundey remembered something.
“I need to say goodbye to my friends and teachers at the orphanage”, said Blundey.
“You can go there now”, replied Daniel.
Blundey arrived at the orphanage, and knocked on the office door. Ms. Benfort, the
orphanage manager, came to the door.
“Blundey!” she exclaimed when she saw him. “We’ve been looking all over for you!”
He explained everything to her. “Of course you can go and live with your dad again!” she
said happily.
Blundey said all his goodbyes to his friends and teachers. He left the orphanage thirty
minutes later. He met Daniel back in the forest an hour later.
“Why don’t we go and see the Mammoth at the museum?” suggested Daniel.
“Yes, let’s do that!” replied Blundey cheerfully.
And together they walked to the museum.
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THE End
Thank you very much for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed it.
George P. Wood
THE END?
Keep watch for Blundey’s second
adventure:
“THE DREAM”
Coming Soon!!!
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