Children's Book Sample: Ben, Lucy and the 4 Deserts of Aguaveva

Chapter One

“I’m bored,” said Ben, picking up a chestnut and drop kicking it high into the air. The nut bounced down on the grass and hit Ben’s little sister Lucy, who was practising ballet a few feet away.

“Ouch!”

“Oops! Sorry Lucy.”

“That’s OK.” Lucy held an imaginary ballet barre and practised a demi-plié. “Is it twelve o’clock yet?”

At twelve o’clock, Ben and Lucy were going with Mum to meet Dad at the airport. Dad was away on another adventure, this time climbing mountains and planting special weather equipment. But he was coming home today, and Ben and Lucy couldn’t wait.

“Not for hours,” said Ben, with a sigh. When Dad was home they heard lots of stories about his adventures. When he was away, life at home on Waterfoot Farm could be a bit boring. Mum was good fun, but sometimes – like this morning – she was busy running the family light-bulb business and had no time to play.

“I wish we could have adventures like Dad,” said Ben, taking off his glasses and wiping them. “I’d love to do something really brave. Maybe one day I’ll join the army and help save the world from some terrible enemy.” He put his glasses back on, and as he did so something on the ground caught his eye. Something shiny. “That’s weird.” Ben often noticed things other people didn’t.

He leaned forward to look at the shimmering object buried in the grass. It looked like a gold coin, but very smooth with no markings on it. He tapped it with his finger. It felt solid like it was glued to the soil, but Ben knew you couldn’t glue anything to soil – except plants. They glued themselves with roots.

Using his fingers, Ben pushed grass and dirt away, and found the shiny gold circle was just the top of something else – something buried in the ground.

“Have you found something?” Lucy peered over Ben’s shoulders to see what he was doing.
Ben moved more dirt and managed to get a grip on the object.

“Stand back Lucy.”

He pulled and pulled. But it was no good. Whatever was in the ground wouldn’t move.

“Let me see.” Lucy was still behind Ben, standing on tiptoes.

Ben blew dirt away and wiped his hands on the grass.

“One more try.”

Gripping the object as tightly as he could, Ben pulled and pulled, and pulled some more. On the final tug, he felt something move. He gripped even tighter and leaned backwards, stamping his feet into the ground. Slowly, a long gold tube began to slide out of the soil.

“You’ve found something Ben!” Lucy twirled around like a ballerina.

Suddenly, whatever was in the soil popped out, and Ben fell backwards onto the grass, the long tube held to his chest. He sat up, feeling a bit like he’d been rugby tackled, and stared at the thing in his hands. It looked like a long telescope, except it didn’t go thin at one end – it stayed the same length all the way along. The tube had a solid bottom, but at the top it had a lid. The lid looked like the sort you’d find on a jam jar, only it was gold coloured, not chequered red-and-white like the marmalade lid in the kitchen.

“I wonder what it is.” Ben turned the tube around in his hands. Something told him this wasn’t just some old piece of pipe someone had thrown away. It felt very heavy for its size, and Ben knew heavy things tended to be worth something. He rubbed away dirt and, gripping the tube firmly, tried to turn the lid. There was a horrible screeching, crunching sound, and Lucy put her hands to her ears and made a face. Ben gritted his teeth and carried on turning. He could feel the lid giving way in his strong hands, but with every turn the tube seemed to give a little jump.

Suddenly the lid flew upwards into the branches of the chestnut tree above them, and the tube leapt from Ben’s hands. He and Lucy watched in amazement as the gold cylinder jumped and bounced around on the grass.

“What…?” Lucy began to say, but before she could finish the cylinder stood itself upright and something amazing happened. A pair of hands rose out of the tube in a praying position, as if pulled by an invisible string.

Lucy gasped, and Ben pulled them both behind the chestnut tree.

“Shussh!”

Ben peered around the tree at whoever, or whatever, was coming out of the tube. Being bored didn’t seem so bad all of a sudden, and he wished they were sitting peacefully on the grass with the tube still buried in the ground.

“I never should have said outloud I wanted to save the world,” Ben muttered to himself.

The hands were followed by a long, thin pair of arms which grew longer and longer until they were adult length. Suddenly, a head popped out wearing a blue soldier’s helmet. A body followed in blue armour, which shimmered under the sun. The next moment, a tall soldier stepped out of the tube and stood before them.

“Hoo!” The soldier shook his head and patted his breastplate. He noticed Ben’s brown hair and curious face poking out from behind the tree and fell to one knee.

“Sire.” He took off his blue battle helmet and set it on the ground. “I’m one of King Robus’ Royal soldiers. I come with a message for you. We – the Sacossians of the Sacossian Kingdom – need your help.”

Ben swallowed hard and stepped forward.

“Me?”

“Yes Sire.” The soldier cleared his throat, coughing a big rattling cough that made his armour jangle. “King Robus has been watching you from our faraway land of Aguaveva. He’s seen your determination. Your courage. Your kindness to others and your skill with horses.”

“Who’s King Robus?”

“King Robus? King Robus? Why, only the King of the Sacossians. The kindest, bravest and strongest King there ever was. He needs you to help battle the Skelliegs – an evil race of skeleton warriors plaguing our land. The Skelliegs want to invade our Kingdom. We need you to help stop them.”

Ben stared at the soldier. Now he had climbed out of the tube he seemed to have puffed out, and Ben saw he was a large, study fellow and not thin at all. In fact, he was bigger than Ben – and Ben was pretty tall for his age.

The man leaned down to reach inside the gold tube, and Ben saw that amazingly he could now barely fit a few fingers inside.

“Here. I’ll show you a map of our land, Aguaveva, and our Kingdom – Sacossia.”

The soldier pulled a blue, wobbly roll of parchment from the gold tube and unrolled it so Ben could see. It was indeed a map of a large, round land with wavy edges. At the top was written ‘Aguaveva’, and at the very centre was a picture of a castle and the words, ‘Sacossia – Kingdom of the Brave’.

“Our Kingdom is circled by the 4Deserts,” the soldier explained, pointing to the rings of land surrounding Sacossia. “The Hottest Desert, the Windiest Desert, the Coldest Desert and the Dry Desert. As an otherworlder, you’ll have to cross these deserts on horseback to reach our Kingdom. You can’t use this Royal Scroll I’m afraid.” He pointed to the gold tube as he spoke, and Ben realised the tube, or ‘Royal Scroll’ as the soldier called it, must be some sort of portal or door into the soldier’s land – which Ben now knew was called Aguaveva. “Once you reach our Kingdom, you can help us battle the Skelliegs and stop them reaching Burn Mountain, which lies at the heart of Sacossia and is the source of all water and life in our land.”

“Sacossia? Skelliegs?” said Ben, puzzled by the strange words. “What are Skelliegs again?”

 

The soldier shook his head, as if remembering something sad.

“The Skelliegs are a terrible, terrible race. They’re skeletons, with deathly white faces and swords made of bone. We Sacossians have battled them for many years. We’re brave, strong men not frightened to do battle to protect our land. But the Skellieg King, King Egwarg, uses ancient magic to make more Skellieg skeleton men every day. Now, there are many, many Skellieg warriors, and King Egwarg is preparing for another attack on our Kingdom. We fear this time the Skelliegs will surely invade Sacossia and conquer Burn Mountain. Our army is strong, but our commanders grow too old to lead the men. King Robus needs a new battle commander. He needs you, Ben, to lead our army against the Skellieg skeleton warriors.”

“But…I’m not sure you’ve got the right person.” Ben watched the map wobble like water in the soldier’s hand. “I’m just a boy.”

“A very brave and courageous boy, according to King Robus,” said the soldier. “He’s been watching you when you go to school – through the rain on your classroom window and the puddles in your playground. He’s seen that you try hard, even when things are difficult. You try when other children would give up. And the King has seen you with your horse, Conker. You have a gift with horses.”

“I’ve a horse too,” said Lucy, poking her blonde head out from behind the tree. “Her name’s Lily, and she’s Conker’s little sister. Just like I’m Ben’s little sister. Lily’s brown with a white nose, just like Conker. Can I come with Ben to…Agu…Agua… to your land, and help your King too?” She stepped out from behind the tree and sat down cross-legged on the grass.

The soldier let out a mighty laugh.

“A mither? Helping lead soldiers into battle? And a little one at that!” He laughed some more, and looked kindly into Lucy’s green eyes. “No, young mither. You’ve no place in a battle. You stay here and help with keeping the house and cooking the meals.”

Lucy folded her arms across her chest and scowled at the soldier.

“I think he’s right, Lucy,” said Ben. “You’re younger, and battling skeleton warriors sounds dangerous.” He cleared his throat and turned to the soldier. “Tell King Robus I’d be honoured to help. I’ll saddle Conker and come right away. But you’ll have to tell me how to get to your land – to Aguaveva.”

“Here.” The soldier pulled a small cotton sack from his belt and handed it to Ben. Ben and Lucy stared at the sack in wonder.

“What’s that?” asked Lucy.

“A bag of magic oats,” said the soldier. “Feed these oats to your steed, Ben, and he’ll take you to the most southerly point of Aguaveva. From there you must cross the 4Deserts to reach our Kingdom. No Sacossian has ever crossed the 4Deserts and survived – but King Robus thinks you’re brave enough and clever enough to do it.”

“What!” Lucy scrambled to her feet. “Ben, you can’t go! If big men like him,” Lucy jabbed a finger at the soldier, “can’t survive these 4Deserts, what chance do you have?”

“The 4Deserts aren’t about strength,” said the soldier, dusting his sleeves and putting his arms by his sides. “They’re about wit and courage. We Sacossians are strong warriors – and we’re certainly courageous and clever. But from what we’ve seen, Ben has more wit about him than King Robus himself. If anyone can find their way across the 4Deserts, Ben can. See you in Sacossia!”

And with that, the soldier leapt into the air. His whole body became long and thin like a railing, and dropped into the Royal Scroll as easily as a sword slotting back into its sheath. The Royal Scroll wobbled for a moment, then gold water splashed out of it onto the grass and the tube was still.

Ben and Lucy watched the twinkling water seep slowly into the soil.

“Well.” Ben looked at the cloth sack in his hands. “We should go and feed these oats to Conker.” He noticed the gold tube standing on the grass. “I’d better take that,” said Ben. “You never know – it might come in handy.”

 

Conker seemed pleased to see Ben and Lucy as they hurried towards his stable. He whinnied and snorted, and shook his big brown head in greeting. Beside him, his sister Lily leaned her long nose out the stable to greet the children. She was brown too, with a white nose just like Conker.

Ben brought riding equipment from the tack room, and Conker stood still and proud whilst his master saddled him and climbed aboard. Lucy passed Ben the Royal Scroll, and Ben strapped it to his own waist with a leather belt. He’d already folded the map and placed it loose in the pocket of his army trousers. His favourite brown-leather Benet lay over the saddle in case the weather turned nasty.

“Now, just give Conker a little handful of the oats, Lucy,” said Ben, holding the reins tightly. “And we’ll see what happens.”