Mazumdar Sonali--Liu Yifei

The storytelling contest this Tuesday was for me a really exciting and unforgettable experience. Even though I was not the winner,  I did enjoy the whole process of my creating the plot in my mind, my writing the long long story, my rewriting it again and again...and my adding music as background. However there were a lot of aspects that I did not pay attention to. For example, I did not distinguish the difference between telling a story and writing a story. That led to my too draggy boring speech-like telling.


Whatsoever, I still want to post my story here again as one of my blogs, to share with you as a short story (maybe not as short as you expect)! If you do not think it would bother you, please continue!

-Chapter one-

An island, lying peacefully on the Atlantic Ocean, holds an empire full of harmony and civilization. Laughter, chitchat, sounds of bargain, with the call of seagulls, breath of sea wind can be heard everywhere, from the sunrise, till the sunset.

All citizens are moving on to the national ceremony the next day. At the same time a new braver will be knighted in front of the whole public, as a hero of the country.

“Lord Harris, here is your apparel for tomorrow’s ceremony.” a boy walks in Harris’s room with delight on his face.

“Do not call me Lord. I am still your mister.” Harris smiles back at his domestic. He was sitting in the table reading congratulatory letters from his fellow soldiers.

“We all know you will be awarded as knight tomorrow! And we knew that a long time ago. Your bravery and loyalty is the language spoken by everyone on this island!”

“Harris! My brother!” a man at the same age rushed in. Dalton and Harris grew up inseparably. They are nearly equal in battles. But only Harris was going to be knighted.

“Dalton!” Harris gets up from the chair, extends his arms to welcome.  “Glad to see your wound has been healed from the last battle! “

Dalton laughs out as hearing a joke: “Strong enough to survive from the graze, but not as strong as you are, THE NEW YEAR’S OWNER OF THE SOWRD OF POWER AND LOYALTY!” His smile seems to be still on his face, “I will be down on knees looking up at you for the rest of my life.” His eyebrows slightly frown, however all are out of the consciousness of Harris.

PHarris asks:”Have you heard? Tomorrow’s ceremony will come as a surprise. All the singers will be on board after midnight and ships will be surrounding the island by morning. Their sound of singing can be heard on every location of the island in company with the first stream of sunlight!

Harris conceives the magnificent and remarkable scene. His is thinking of Tilda, his lover, who is also one of the singers.

Dalton sees the passionate flame in Harris’s eyes and suddenly feels inhibited. It hurts him. He cannot figure out why he can get everything he wants. Harris is a model he respect, but also a robber who takes away every possibility of his happiness! He got fame, status and respect from the king, and Tilda. Dalton cannot forget the day when she refused his courting. He cannot forget the way Tilda and Harris look at each other.  Envy is engulfing him, deeper and deeper. He simply makes a response to Harris then rushes out of the room.

-Chapter two-

Late in the evening, Tilda is waiting for Harris outside. Harris’s attention was soon arrested and he walks towards her, strokes her hair affectionately behind her ear and says:”I have talked to your father”

Tilda grinned,” So? I talk to him every day?”

Harris is a little embarrassed, “You know what I mean. And I’ve heard you are all going to sing on the sea. Tell me which ship you are going to sing on”

“I do not want to tell you.” Tilda answers “I want you to find me by yourself, I want you to distinguish my voice from thousands of us! Remember I will be singing for you. ”After saying that, Tilda skips away like a deer, disappears in the darkness of night.

-Chapter three-

Time seems to slow down before excitement. Everyone get up from bed when it is still dark. They gathered together with candles, the firelights on which cast beautiful orange veils over their smiling faces.

The night slowly fakes, but there is still fog surrounding.  Everything is in completely silence. As people are guessing what will happen, a clear girl’s voice suddenly flies onto the island from the mysterious fog. Meantime, a stream of sunlight penetrates the clouds. Later, more and more voices add in. people involuntarily move to the coast. All the candle lights rim a hazy shining contour of the island.

Harris closes his eyes, drunk in the music like everyone. His heart is filled with love, love for the country, love for the citizen and love for peace. Then he opens his eyes. The fog is still thick, but he sees a vague light appears on the sea, coming closer and closer to the harbor.

Strange! Harris suspects. He looks at Dalton who stands behind him. Dalton is also alert. Just after they realize what just happened, all the lights on the sea explode into the sky, like fireworks, passing through the dark night, right towards the island. The song suddenly stopped, as was frightened. People are confused but amazed by the beautiful scene, until a scream tears the silent. “Those are arrows with fire!” People start to scream and flee in disorder with panics. “It was fire attack!” Fire from an enemy battleship, from their neighbor empire, a more powerful and prosperous country! With the fog fading, huge battleships slowly emerge behind.

It is a sneak attack! After the fire arrows stop, thousands of soldiers land on, taking advantage of the random situation. They wave their swords at soldiers and innocent citizens. It was like a nightmare.

Harris yells Dalton’s name to cover him. he pulls out his sword in the scabbard, rushed in to the fight. Dalton stands on the highlands, using his bow and arrows to help Harris killing enemies around him. They are always best partners in battle.

But a scream of a girl break Harris’s concentration. He hears a voice calling his name from his back. It is Tilda. She is trapped on her ship. Harris cannot think more but still waving his sword at enemies. He cannot abandon his country for a girl. Dalton is also distracted by that. Tilda’s scream awaken his envy and hatred to Harris. He sinks deeper and deeper in his thoughts. Every time he kills an enemy around Harris, he feels he is holding Harris up nearer and nearer to the glory while pushing himself farther and farther away from Tilda. That is not fair.

Finally, Dalton is totally enraged! If I kill him now, no one will find out and Tilda will be mine, so do all Harris’s achievements! He retargets his arrow at Harris and shoot through his heart.

No! Tilda cries on the ship seeing Harris collapsing down! She feels no strength in her body, like her soul has been taken. Then she sees Dalton holding his bow, his eyes shining with excitement. At the same time, the ship rocks and she falls down into the sea.

-Chapter four-

Dalton is in panic while finding out Tilda is no longer in his sight. He makes a mad dash to where Tilda fell. When he rushes to her, he only sees Tilda’s body floating by the seashore. His bow is dropped on the ground, he feels his heart broken into pieces. “What have I done… it is not what is supposed to be… what have I done…”

He staggers through water to Tilda, holds her body and cries. “you are not dead…you are not dead… do not die…” but he can no more feel Tilda’s breath. He cries desperately, shouting  “You are mine! You are still mine! No one can take you away from me. We are going to leave here together. He picks up a sword with him, carries her body on a boat anchored next to him. He quickly unties the rope and rows it away from the harbor which is being swallowed by fire. He keeps rowing and rowing until they are in a distance away from the island.

He hugs Tilda tightly, bending on his knees. “I don’t care if I have betrayed the country. I just wanted to be with you! But why! I lost everything, my country, my friend. I cannot let you go!” The crackling sound of fire seems to keep reminding him he has become alone. He buries his head in Tilda’s body, can’t help crying.

Suddenly a shriek of the wind pierce through his noise of grief, so does it stab into his heart. Everything abruptly seems to be silent to Dalton. He can feel an ice-cold sword in his body.  Shocked and frightened, his eyes opened widely. The body besides him slightly moves, but he dare not roll his eyeballs to look at the girl who he thought has dead. He feels no ache in his wound, but a huge pain in his heart, his throat, his eyes and brain. With a harsh sound, the sword was pulled out from his body and he collapses on his knees, facing down.

Tilda stands up, with the bloody sword in her hand. She was not dead. She could not die before revenge. She faces to her homeland, to her lover, with no emotion on her face, but the image of the crazy fire swallowing the land reflecting in her eyes. The crackling sound of fire slowly tears her up, she finally cannot bear it anymore and collapses on her knees.

-Chapter five-

On the island, some children huddle together in a temporary refuge, hoping not to be discovered by soldiers passing by. Turbid tears slide down their cheek. They keep biting their lips, trying not to make a sound. In desperation, a faint but bright girl’s voice awakens their hope. It seems to come from the sea, staunchly cross a long distance. They raise their head, listen carefully, forgetting sorrow, pain and death. The song lasts, until finally buried in the crackling noise of fire.