Greed- Casting Away From Evil
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Novel Excerpt- The Adventures of John Whistler
Mood:  incredulous
The Adventures of John Whistler

An Excerpt by: Paul Junior

Author Notes:

The Adventures of John Whistler, is mystical tale placed in the medevil time period of a land called fantisis. Fantisis is ruled by kings, sea kings, and sky kings; and has many different creatures including, humans, elves, wizards, etc.

The main point of the story, is to capture the audience, and to give them the scary feelings main character, John Whistler goes through. As he does not know his past, and has a mission to slay all kings. Later on he finds a sea king that can help him, but realizes that his past is his most feared part of all.

The reason for John Whistlers name, refers to when he whistles for his horse Pixy to be ready for him to jump out a castle, after slaying another king.

I designed this story because I felt I should work more on my character’s voice, and work more on my plot line as well.


Book 1
King Slayer


Chapter 1



A hooded man, and his faithful companion, Pixy, ran swiftly through the wilderness. A worthy horse, Pixy was. Not quite fit for a king, but they were still headed out toward the kingdom of brillian, one of the fanciest in all the land of fantisis.

The man slowed his horse to a steady pace. There stood before them, the largest and most spectacular golden gate they would ever see in all the lands. Standing in front of the gate, were two armored men, whom looked especially tiny compared to their golden friend.

“It’s more beautiful than I had imagined.” The man slowly took off his hood in appreciation, his face was very hansom he looked as if he was fit for a prince, “getting in, is the trick ol’ buddy.” He patted his horse on the head and tossed an apple in the air for his beautiful white horse to catch.
They veered to a stop, as they reached the armed gate.
“Here for a visit sir?” one guard asked.
“indeed.” The man replied briefly.
“name?” the other guard asked.
“whistler, john whistler.” The man replied again.

A scroll was imedaitly brought out, as a guard searched through the entire list of names. “whistler… whistler…” the guard mumbled to himself, “Well, it appears you are not on the list. Sorry, for the inconvinence, gooday.”

“but surely… I was invited.” Was whistlers immideat response.
“but surely, you have been mistaken, the king never makes his own mistakes.” One guard said taking matters very seriously.

John Whistler looked around, he was looking for anything to help him. There was nothing to do, except…

A sword flashed out like lightning, instantly slitting one guards throat like butter. “I said,” Whistler snarled. “I was invited.”

The guard that was left, trembled. “Of course… I understand perfectly.” He managed to say. Whistler made that move with such authority, the guard already sacrificed his only king.

“Show me the way.” Whistler smiled slyly, “Or I’m sure I can find my own.”

***

A greedy king, sat in his luxorious thrown. Which was mounted in one of the most luxorious castles in all the land of fantisis. He was busy counting the gold collection he has spent most of his life with, which seems to keep piling everyday.

Suddenly a hollow knock was tapped on his door. Which startled the king.
“what do you want?” he replied out of frustration.

“sir, there is a man with the name of John Whistler. He has come here to see you...” the guard hesitated, “he was not on the list.”

“Are you telling me I made a mistake... with the list?” the king replied his last 3 words hissed.

“your highness, please...”

“your highness,” whistler broke in, “I believe you owe us an apology.”

“this is outrageous...” the king started to chuckle, “you think I owe you an apology, when I’m the one who is perfect?”

“You think you are so clever and powerful,” Whistler was tense, choosing his right words. “But you must realize that the only real guard you have is that golden gate. It is what holds all your protection, not someone like him.” Whistler suddenly opened the double doors to the thrown room, they creaked slowly and heavily.

The king replied, “What do you mean him…” but he was trailed off, by the horrible scene before him. There was a gasp by the king. What lay before him, was one of the gate guards, a blade to his throat, and a strong arm round his body.

Whistlers sword glinted in the suns ray, and in one swift motion the guard was gone.

“guards? Seize him!” the king was in disbelief. But before any guards reached his thrown, whistler had slaughtered him.

John made a loud whistling sound with two fingers, and leaped out the window. down below many armored nights were riding black horses. but out of all those horses, one stood out magnificently beautiful and white, Pixy of course. Pixy replied to whistlers, signal, which was a whistle.
Like the wind, John Whistler and his faithful companion were riding together, once more. Pixy seemed to know what to do, she has been through practically the same routine for years. Enter kingdom, wait for whistler to give signal, then ride like the wind toward the castle catching her friend in the nick of time. She knew not why they did this routine, but she was a very loyal horse and very attached to John…

***

It was that time of year, the month of fire, it was a simple name and very precise. During the month of fire, a whirlwind of fire strikes forth the land of fantisis, sucking up anything in its path. It is most deadly, in the forests of Fantisis, when forests Ignite, with bright flaring flames, enough to blind its surrounding inhabitants.

Most flee as far as possible from terrains such as, forest and field. Creatures who breath underwater are most fortunate, although every year ash either falls or is dumped in their ocean environments. Every year, the war between land and water grows closer, last year it was so close that the underwater king himself confronted the most respected king of land. That king was non other than the King of brillian. The king who was murdered just two days ago, by John Whistler himself. A kings most feared enemy, to every live in the land of Fantisis. Most kings have never seen his face, and only some kings have ever heard his name. He is too clever and witty, that he has never found a worthy king.

“Pitty,” John Whistler thought to himself, the wind blew his long blond hair into his face. “Not even the king of brillian had enough in himself, to evade me.” He brushed his hair out of his face in frustration.

“And spoiled nonetheless.” Whistler pointed out as he looked down toward Pixy. The white horse seemed to understand and gave out a loud, “neigh”.
“You agree, Pixy?” John chuckled. Then a sudden brustle of trees came to his attention, as birds scrambled out of the wilderness. Something was terribly wrong. John looked around himself, he saw forest all around, the devastated birds gave him a sign of what was going on.

“How clumsy…” John muttered to himself. Birds now closer were scrambling away from the tree tops. He could here dramatic howls of wind, and felt Pixy lifting from where she was planted. Pixy, as calm and tame as she was, now started to panic. Heat started to draw closer, John awed in the sight before him. Trees were bursting into flames, loud crackling and popping sounds could be heard.

Then Whistler motioned for his horse… to run. Fire blasted right behind their steps, trees cracked and fell behind them. “Think, whistler, think”, he thought to himself, looking around for another witty plan, he dared not to look behind. To his right he saw swamp, and to his left he saw forest which he knew would attract and spread more disaster. An idea sparkled in his head, water, it was his only hope.

Sharply Pixy shifted to her right, on John’s signal. A flaming branch from a high tree fell in their tracks. Pixy was very dependable in situations such as these, all she had to was jump, and that’s just what she did. Little did they know how their fait would unfold, for as soon as she landed, they both tumbled down a long slope of dirt.

Whistlers companion, was not of beautiful white color, but a mixture of dark green and black. That was not a problem however, for their planned worked, they reached water. Pixy could easily wash her magnificent coat again, but whistler noticed something surveying her closely as he sat in the dirt, her left hind leg was damaged greatly. She limped without pain, but he could tell that soon it would be very painful. He had to do something, surely most horses would be put down at this time, but he knew deep in his schemish heart that this horse was something else, someone else. It had human feelings, it was almost as if it had a soul.
John Whistler thought a moment, and took out a map of northern fantisis from his pack. He placed his finger on its flat surface, trailing along images that resembled trees until he reached an image that resembled a body of water. The whole outline proved that he was in directly in the middle of the forest, the swamp made it look like a thick ring.

“Swamp of Unfortane.” Whistler whispered to himself. His face started to light up, “Well buddy, it looks like we may be the first fortunate group to ever set foot on the Swamp of Unfortane.”

Pixy seemed to read his very thought, if only she could speak, she would say, “The Unfortunate Wizard!”. Instead she gave a loud neigh.

“That’s right beauty, the Wizard.”

***

It was much, much smaller than they had expected. Much, meaning that Whistler had to duck through the doorway of the small, small cottage. It was a floating cottage, on the stillness of murky swamp water. Pixy had to stay on the front porch, just barely able to stand on its small and narrow hollow logged flooring. Her weight slightly tipped the cottage so that her left side was skimming the swampy water.

“Unfortunate Wizard.” John intruded.

“Please call me lenny.” A shrunken voice came walking in from a dark room.

“Sorry to intrude, I…”

“In trouble, I know. I predicted your presence John Whistler, the one and only king slayer.”

John was surprised, but knew what to expect from wizards. “Lenny, please…”

“I know you love your horse dearly, my boy.” He pulled out a book titled, “Book of Customers”, “It’s all in here, you escaped the tornado of fire, but your horse injured her leg. And you immediately set off for my cottage. There is even a short biography of each of you.”
Whistler now watched in bewilderment, he was enchanted by the wizards magic charm.

“No, never think that way, thoughts of those kind only lead to temptation and evil. Simply put, jealousy.”

The feeling suddenly flushed out of John, he felt ashamed and also stunned. A person who slays kings is not evil? John thought heavily.

“Your horse is one of a kind, Whistler. But, I must warn you that my magic is cursed by the land of Unfortunate. That is where I get my oddball name, Unfortunate Wizard. Everything will have a perminate side effect, always negitave, and that may or may not be a life changing event. I’m sorry to say I can not predict what that side effect will be.”

“I don’t care.” The slayer of kings said deeply, “I just can’t stand to see her suffer.”

“Very well, Pixy will be healed…” With the wave of his short stubby hands, smoke gathered around Pixy. He spoke a chant.

[i]Let me heal you
Let you run once more
Side effects, Side effects
Please don’t pour,
and make trouble brew[/i]

As the smoke withered away it’s last, there unfolded Pixy fully healed and…

Whistler dropped to his knees, he put his head in his hair in frustration. No longer could Pixy run as wild and free, for her dignity will forever change. Lets hope… at least her personality hasn’t changed. John looked up again, it was a tremendous sight. Pixy, no longer shined her white bristful hair. For it has imitaded the bland color, of the murky swamp itself.