Teddy’s Letter
965 Words
Teddy’s Letter
Somewhere in the Glasslands
The Gramarye Region
Grand Quillia
June 1856
Dear Aunt Josette,
I’m not sure you’ll ever get this letter. I don’t have the money for a stamp and I don’t know where you live. Also, I haven’t seen a post box for months now.
You see, Professor Rickenbacker, who used to rent a room from you, well he’s not a professor any more. I mean, he is. It’s still his name. Professor Rickenbacker. But he doesn’t work at the university any more. Now he’s a terrorist. I don’t know if this is a promotion or not, or if the professor even wants to be a terrorist, but the Grand Quillian Empire says he is, and so that means he is.
Hence not having seen a postbox for months. We are now on the run, being chased by some soldiers led by a Colonel Quine and a Doctor Axelrod. We are in The Gramarye, which is a small and rather rotten part of the Empire that I doubt you have heard of, but there’s lots of Wonder here. You know what Wonder is, right?
Professor Rickenbacker and his friends, Sir Evan Mandell (dead posh), Pinkerton (a boxer) and Lady Elena Melody (she makes me feel funny) found something called a Gargoyle Key, which could get us into the Cathedral of Tales, which is in the Glasslands, which is where Pearly used to be.
Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself.
We had this Gargoyle Key thing and then these Reclaimers, mercenaries who work for the Empire, well not EXACTLY the Empire, the Trade, who are like this really big company who buy things for the Empire or something, yeah, so anyway, these Reclaimers chased us. They were led by this really ugly burnt bloke called Spicer and they were called Bunce (a girl that looks like a boy), Tork (a man who looks like a giant) and Conway (a dabbler who looks like a butcher). You know what a dabbler is, Auntie. It’s someone who uses the power of the Wonder to make things – you know, grenades, guns, lifts, buildings, street lights, toasters, everything really important.
We were staying in this lodge in the Glasslands (it’s not as nice as it sounds). It was an old hunting lodge in the middle of a forest made of glass that had these crazies called Humps living in it who attacked us and tried to bite me but then we escaped – and this lodge was where we escaped to.
It was owned by this really nice lady called Laurel Gleave, who came from a bad family but she’s not like that, and she had some friends, Mister Brennan, his son Alf, a smelly man called Kendrick and some soldiers called Beasley and Hilt. Hilt has a sword stuck to his hand, which is weird. It happened at something called the Meander Valley m******e when all Hilt’s soldier friends, called the Torchlights, were killed by Reclaimers working for the Trade.
Yeah, so we thought everything was alright but then Lady Melody betrayed us and Spicer and his Reclaimers got in the lodge. Tork killed Alf and Hilt killed Tork and Spicer killed Beasley and next thing Kendrick ran off because we were surrounded by Colonel Quine and Doctor Axelrod’s soldiers so we went to hide in the basement. Sir Evan Mandell was shot in the head and it was really sad and then we found a secret passage that was all scary.
Then we found a hidden city (there wasn’t a postbox there either). It was called Pearly, like I said earlier, and we were attacked by this metal thingy but Brennan made it blow up and then Spicer and his Reclaimers found us again so we ran off and Conway, the dabbler, got squashed by the floor. Honest.
Then someone spoke to me in my head and told me I’m the chosen one, which was nice. I know you always thought I was little bit slow, Auntie Josette, but I think I’m really onto something with this chosen one thing. The someone who said I’m the chosen one was called Mister Elephantine and he was made up of all the people that ever lived in the city we were in, before they were all killed by the metal thingies. Mister Elephantine really hated Laurel because her family had helped the metal thingies or something, but I still really like her anyway.
Anyway, Mister Elephantine asked us to help him find some fairy so that he could help us do something or other about something called the Threat that made the metal thingies with the Gleave family and want to attack the Gramarye again. So we escaped to the underground city called Pearly.
Unfortunately Spicer and his Reclaimers found us again. Spicer wasn’t all ugly and burnt anymore and has turned into an Elf because we unlocked the city – Professor Rickenbacker mentioned it but I didn’t really understand. Yeah, the Reclaimers found us and started shooting at us and then Kendrick turned up with Sir Evan Mandell. Even though Sir Evan Mandell is dead! He’s still dead and he’s gone all nasty and wants to kill us too now, because Colonel Quine and Doctor Axelrod did something to him. Made him not dead but evil instead, basically. Mister Pinkerton is very sad because Sir Evan Mandell was his very best friend.
Hilt ran off and found some ponies and now we’re running away to Chinsey, the main town in the Gramarye. I think we’re going to catch an ice yacht on the slideways to take us all the way to Ashburton Station. Which is good because my feet are killing me from walking in the underground city called Pearly and my rear is chafing from riding the ponies.
Anyway. I hope Uncle Frank is well and that you don’t have lice as much anymore.
Best Regards
Teddy (Creslow) Esquire
Part 3
A Fairytale of Chinsey
- Writer
