Intro

The dark and swervy hallways led to the one room that controlled everything. The walls of the hallways were covered in dark granite and had long, steep stairs. The man got to the bottom of the stairs, and he opened the door to see that the queen was about to leave.

“What are you doing, Your Royal Highness?”

“Well, Mr. Dompettle, I am seeing my sister. She is towards the end. Why are you here?”

“Well mama, it is my job to do this. I must feed the prisoners.” 

Mr. Dompettle kept walking down the hall, placing a bowl of food in the compartment of every prisoner. Some of the prisoners complained that they needed more food and some tried to grab Mr. Dompettle by the jacket.

“Man, I hate my job. But I get to work for the queen. Not everyone can say that. “

When he got to the queen’s sister’s jail cell, she grabbed him by the coat. She told him a secret that her sister told her. It was too crazy for Mr. Dompettle to even believe. She let him go forcefully and said, “Don’t just stand there! Give me my food!”

With Mr. Dompettle’s shaking hand, he handed her a bowl of slush and went on. In the back of his head, he thought of what the queen’s sister told him. He had to figure out what it meant because all she said was a passage or poem.

Chapter 1: The Secret 

That morning, Mr. Dompettle woke up and he raced out of his cabin in the woods. He was late for work, so when he got on the bus, he told the driver, “Speed up! I work for the queen, and I have never been late one day of my life!” 

The bus driver sped up and everyone in the bus started screaming. Mr. Dompettle said the same thing that he said to the driver and everyone quieted down.

Finally, he got to the palace and ran to the changing quarters to get his uniform. When Mr. Dompettle finished changing, he ran up the stairs. Finally, he got to the room and lined up right as the queen approached the door. She rushed in and assigned everyone to their quarters besides Mr. Dompettle. 

“I know that you were running late, and that is okay, but I also know that my sister told you the secret. Don’t tell anyone, your life depends on it!” said the queen in a harsh voice. “Now go and feed my prisoners.” 

“Yes, Your Majesty.” 

Mr. Dompettle walked down the steep stairs with granite walls and started giving out the bowls of food. The prisoners did the usual and tried to grab Mr. Dompettle’s jacket, complaining about the lack of food. When he got to the queen’s sister’s chamber, she was dead. Mr. Dompettle ran back up to the queen’s room and said, “Your Majesty, your sister… Your sister… She is dead.” 

The queen rushed to the bottom of the palace, ran down the stairs with the granite walls, and went to her sister’s jail cell. Indeed, she was dead. There was a bit of thought that Mr. Dompettle killed her, but she reconsidered her thoughts and said, “Mr. Dompettle has been the most loyal; he couldn’t have killed her.”

“Take my sister out of her jail cell and bury her. Make someone make a stone. I don’t care who it is, it just needs to be magnificent,” boomed the queen. 

Mr. Dompettle helped take the queen’s sister out of her jail cell. The queen ran up the stairs with the granite walls and locked herself in her room. She got no sleep that night and just sat in her room and cried. Even though her sister had killed people, the queen was still heartbroken. She and her sister had always gotten along, but one day, they’d gotten in a huge fight that had made the queen’s entire family go against her sister. Then, the next day, she ran away. 

“WHY WASN’T IT ME!” yelled the queen.

That night in his cabin, Mr. Dompettle sat down at his table and wrote the very words that the queen’s sister told him. “The dragon’s slay, a heart of gold, a gem of beauty.” He wrote those very words on his last piece of paper and hid it in his coat. He would take it everywhere with him, so the secret wouldn’t come out.  

“The dragon’s slay, a heart of gold, a gem of beauty.” Mr. Dompettle repeated that over and over but still had no idea what it meant. 

Now one of the people that could have fixed the problem was dead, and the others didn’t even know that there was a problem. The dragon needed to be slayed, they needed a heart of gold, and they needed a gem of beauty to bring back the queen’s sister, Diana.

“Good luck, my peasants,”  said the strange voice.

Chapter 2: The stranger

Mr. Dompettle woke up, took the bus to the palace, ran downstairs and into the changing quarters, walked up the stairs, and went into the room and lined up. The queen did the same thing as yesterday: she assigned everyone besides Mr. Dompettle. 

“Mr. Dompettle, what did my sister tell you?”

“The dragon’s slay, a heart of gold, a gem of beauty,” they said together. 

Right then and there, there was a knock at the door of the palace that startled both of them. The queen told the guards that she would open the door and for them to go to their quarters, so they did. Now, she opened the door with a creak, and there was a beautiful lady with a bright red cape and a dark black suit. The beautiful lady repeated the queen’s secret in her ears and said, “You must slay the dragon in the woods, find a heart of gold, and get the gem of the land. The biggest gem in the land is a red ruby. Then, your sister will come back to life.”

The queen and Mr. Dompettle couldn’t ask for help. No one could know about this. Now, the two had to get cool suits and weapons. But it was late, so they both had to go home and be careful before they went.

“Goodnight, my queen,” said young Mr. Dompettle. 

“Goodnight, Mr. Dompettle,” said the queen.

Mr. Dompettle went home that night and had a sword and gun on the table. If there were a dragon out there, no one knew where it was. If it were in the woods, he had to be prepared.     

To be continued…