Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (73 page)
Read Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) Online
Authors: Hudson Leone
For a moment, all of the pirates seemed unable to move. Oddly enough, it was the fattest of the pirates that acted first. He was a man with hands much too small for his own body and a large black beard which dangled over a coat covered in stains. Button roared in approval loudly enough to make the hairs on my neck stand up. The rest of the fleet glared at him but it wasn’t long until another man began to cheer as well, followed by another until all of the Storm Striders were, clapping, wolf-whistling and cheering for their captain. The world finally felt right.
My ring finger hand suddenly grew bitter cold as Preston tried to contact me. I quietly excused myself from the festivities and walked until I could hear his words sink into my head.
“Jacob are you alright?” he asked urgently.
Slightly confused, I answered honestly. “Just fine, why?”
Preston gasped a huge sigh of relief, which echoed through my head in an odd sort of way. “So it hasn’t gotten outside yet,” Preston clarified, slowing down his breathing.
“Preston, is everything alright in there? Are you alright?” I asked, practically gnawing off the cold fingalink ring on my finger.
“I’m fine Jacob, believe me. But something serious is going down in the camp.” My pulse quickened.
“How serious?” I whispered.
“Something that the Grimlars have never seen the likes of before.”
***
Here ends the first book.
Finished July 31 2014
Please stay tuned for
Part II in the Year of Churning Bloods
“Several Stone Hearths”
Due 2015
To the reader
:
Thank you for picking up the first installment of the Year of Churning Bloods. Whether or not you know me personally, allow me to reveal the man (boy) behind the curtain and talk about the ongoing stress I’ve gone through to get this book into your hands.
This book started out as a school project. At the time, being an arrogant thirteen year old, I thought I could make a piece of writing fir for any publishing house. About halfway through through the original manuscript I came to a shocking conclusion: I’m a terrible writer. What had started out as a selfish dream to become a wealthy and famous author had been completely dashed. I got mediocre results and in a fit of distress, I threw the book under my bed and hoped to never see it again.
One day I found it, all ten thousand or so words just mysteriously lying on my desk. Maybe it was fate. Maybe mum put it there, or maybe the book grew legs and tried to make a break for it. (Personally, I hope it was the latter)
I picked it up, re-read it and found myself crying. Amazingly, I realized I wasn’t crying for my sake anymore. I was crying for my characters, who I’d used as tools to glorify myself like human make-up brushes. Although some people would reason that these characters aren’t real, I would strongly disagree. Every character in my story is taken from a memory of a person. By abandoning these characters, I’d be doing the same to them.
So I sat down at the computer with new purpose and drive. I changed the story so that it was less about me and more about them and wouldn’t you know it? Four years later and the first part of their story is finished. Where it will take them, even I’m not too sure. The story now belongs to the characters I’ve grown to love, as well as you the reader.
Thank you and never stop smiling.
Personal acknowledgements:
This story goes mostly out to Mr Jonn Nicholson, who in his ultimate wisdom (and insanity) put a pen in my hand and told me to write a book. He is the true Professor Wenchenberg. Thanks go to my mother Heather, my father Mark, my brother Austin and my extended family for their love.
Tremendous thanks to Sue Bingham, for inviting me into her home and spending countless hours with me as we sliced up useless words and tightened up plot points. She’s a wonderful woman and a fantastic editor who’ll no doubt find work with an author far more rich and qualified than me. Many thanks to Lucie Winborne, for her sharp comments and warm support.
Other people I’d like to acknowledge for their feedback is my grandmother Barbra Liek as well as my schoolfriends Adam Sangster and Tom Bingham.
Lastly thanks to Charlie Westphal for making the cover art and being perhaps the greatest friend I could ever ask for.
About the author:
Hudson Leone is seventeen years old. He was born in Indiana, but currently lives in Wellington New Zealand and attends Scots College. His favourite food is goldfish crackers and his drink of choice is grape juice.
He thinks writing is a cool hobby and would like to encourage more young people to try it out.
Chapter two: Shaking Hands with a Tree
Chapter three: The Gift of Gold
Chapter four: The Pig and the Prat
Chapter seven: Unexpected Gifts
Chapter eight: Dragons and Heroes
Chapter nine: The Legion of the Montrose
Chapter eleven: The Professor's Plan
Chapter twelve: That Startling Chapter with the Inter-dimensional Rooms
Chapter thirteen: Visitors touching the books
Chapter fourteen: Cherry trails
Chapter fifteen: A Tale of Two Brothers
Chapter seventeen: Creature of Dreams
Chapter eighteen: Long Worms and Scary Visions
Chapter twenty-two: Confession of the Innocent
Chapter twenty-three: Professor Pocket's Miracle Powder
Chapter twenty-four: Lost Button