Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 224

Battles in America
Ying Wa Primary School, Loi, Jasper - 10
Pirates usually travel the sea looking for gold to steal, but have you heard crews that do the exact
opposite?
“Welcome!” the king of the Ming Dynasty said, “I heard you brought along precious and marvellous
gifts from China, can I take a look?”
“Sure!” Jasper, the captain of the ship replied. He brought the king onto the ship, leading him to the
Treasure Room. A shining golden door with a keyhole was to be opened in order to go in the Treasure
Room. Jasper and the king, accompanied by Marcus, Jasper’s right hand man walked into the Treasure
Room, filled to the brim with piles and piles of valuable and precious items such as gold and silk. The
walls were lined with ancient Chinese dragons, which the citizens believed would protect the ship from
intruders, carved by pure gold.
The king stared at the treasures for a long while, unable to get his eyes off the magnificent and extremely
valued gifts. “Thank you so much!” the king said.
“Oh, you must have mistaken, only one twelfth of the treasures are yours, there are other countries that
we also have to gift,” Jasper corrected.
“No, you’re mistaken,” the king laughed maniacally, “go up deck and you’ll see.”
Jasper and Marcus rushed up and found everyone included in their voyage tied with sturdy strings and
bundled up in a bag. The crew’s muffled screams could be heard even from the outside. Jasper and
Marcus were wild with fear. They backed away from the millions of soldiers with their swords sharpened
out. “Go away!” Marcus shouted. The soldiers walked closer towards Jasper and Marcus every second.
The duo finally swung their swords at the soldiers, their swords glinting in the sunlight, as if in glory. At
last, the soldiers sprinted at Jasper and Marcus and slashed their swords together. Jasper side-stepped and
dodged instinctively from an attack. He stabbed his sword in the soldier’s gut.
“Jasper! Marcus!” Luke, a fellow member exclaimed, “You’ve got to get us out of this dungeon!”
At that moment, they heard someone panting heavily right outside of the cage where they were
imprisoned in.
“Jasper!” someone shouted from the dark, “Luke!”
Jasper stared out from inside the prison. He inched closer towards the bars and found himself staring
straight at one of his crew members…
“Peter!” Jasper gasped, astonished, “How?”
“I… I was asleep in our secret headquarters when they came,” he talked, still breathless, “I followed the
soldiers sneakily as soon I found them carrying you guys here.”
Peter took out a silver key with the word ‘dungeons’ carved on it. He put the key in the lock and the
bars sprang open.