SEVEN DARK BELLS AND THE CRYSTAL SWORD : (BOOK 1) A CLASSIC SCI-FI BATTLE ADVENTURE FANTASY STORY: THE DARK BELLS CHRONICLES

by S. R. TABONE

  SEVEN DARK BELLS

  AND THE

  CRYSTAL SWORD

  (Book 1)

  A CLASSIC SCI-FI BATTLE ADVENTURE FANTASY STORY

  By

  S. R. Tabone

  Series: THE DARK BELLS CHRONICLES Volume: 1

  First Edition

  First published in Great Britain by S. R. Tabone Self Published, 2017

  This First Edition is published in 2017

  Full Copyright including Text and Book Cover © S. R. Tabone

  The right of S. R. Tabone to be identified as the author of this work

  has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the

  Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or translated into any other language, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author, S. R. Tabone [stephentab@hotmail.co.uk] in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).

  Except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this Publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incident and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Printed in Great Britain

  To Ella and Olivia, who like mythical creatures such as unicorns and unipegs.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: The Unipegs Talk

  Chapter 2: Message in a Dream

  Chapter 3: Nathan’s Spirit Rides the Dragon

  Chapter 4: The Unicorns Transform into Unipegs

  Chapter 5: Journey to Vonberg

  Chapter 6: Capturing Dusur

  Chapter 7: Headmasters Hunger for Justice

  Chapter 8: The Professor’s Creation-Machine

  Chapter 9: The Battle Plan

  Chapter 10: Beginning of the First Battle

  Chapter 11: The Tombs of Dragons, Monsters and Pirates

  Chapter 12: The Headmaster’s Daughter?

  Chapter 13: The First Battle Concludes

  Chapter 14: The Twins Mend the Wing

  Prologue

  Rejected by their families, boys and girls with vivid imaginations and high functioning personalities from all over the world end up in the Dark Bells Castle on Vonberg Island. Headmaster, Brutus Rex Barbatus promises to reform them. However new students learn their education is to last for the rest of their lives. Closed off from the outside world and protected by fire-breathing, flying dragons, bone-crushing, biting monsters, giants, sea monsters and other forces, the thought of escaping is left to blind hope.

  It would take more than bravery to attempt the journey to the island, to fight against his evil powers, to free the children of Dark Bells and to stop Rex in his plan to take over the world using advanced space technology. It would take someone with a warrior like spirit to consider such a dangerous adventure.

  Chapter 1: The Unipegs Talk

  In the Highlands of Scotland ten-year-old twins, Kirsten and Nicole lived with their great-grandma Doris. It was just the three of them, oh and two white-winged Unicorn-Pegasus hybrids, called Little Jewel and Morning-star who were kept hidden in stables inside a nearby cattle barn Doris’ husband, Jake had built when the unipegs appeared outside the couple’s stone cottage seven years earlier.

  They managed to make it to safety after being injured in battle. They’d been fighting in the fierce sixth battle against the dragons, monsters and giants on Vonberg Island. They were fighting to try and free the last remaining children of the Dark Bells Castle. Little Jewel had been unable to fly. One of her wings had been burnt when of the dragons breathed fire at her.

  During the battle three knights had made a sling using sailcloth fabric they’d cut from a sail boat. They placed the fabric around Little Jewel, knotted and organised rope from the sling and around the back of Morning-star. Despite the pains from his wounds, Morning-star spread his bloodstained wings and flew nearly 7,000 miles from that volcanic island in the Central Pacific all the way to the Scottish Highlands.

  The normal journey time for unipegs of this distance is about one hour but with the extra weight of carrying Little Jewel it had taken Morning-star double that time. If it hadn’t been for the dedication of Doris in attending to all their wounds they wouldn’t have survived to tell this story.

  Doris and the twins managed to get by on the income Doris received from farmland she rented to Cowman Mr Peters. They’d all they needed, except Doris missed Jake and their son, Alex Parker, along with his wife Bella, and their daughter Olivia, who was the twins’ Ma. All four hadn’t returned from the seventh great battle.

  Doris had brought up the twins single-handedly and had home schooled them too. For Doris it’d seemed like yesterday since the girls had been toddlers. They had no idea of the turmoil most of their family had been involved in. But they had grown older and enquired to know more about their parents, grandparents and where creatures like Little Jewel and Morning-star came from. But Doris dodged their questions. She thought it best they didn’t find out.

  Seven years had past yet throughout all that time Doris hadn’t heard anything from her loved ones. On clear, warm nights she’d lie-down on her cushioned garden lounge chair and look beyond the sky. Her mind would drift amongst the stars as she wondered whether Jake might also be thinking about her. On cold nights when there were large gaps between the clouds and after the twins had fallen asleep she’d open the kitchen door, wrap her woollen cardigan around her thin body and lean against the frame, looking up into the sky and stare. When the chill of the air became too much to bear she’d close the door, shiver slightly and warm up beside her open fireplace. Although a great grandmother, Doris was full of energy, but the longer she lived without Jake and the not knowing of his fate and the fate of the others, the more her spirit despaired.

  Alex, Bella and Olivia hadn’t needed Jake’s help but he was the type of person to volunteer especially when it came to anything to do with war. He was a retired soldier having had served in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Despite his age he insisted on having a role in the plan to free Nathan, the Parker’s neighbour. If only he hadn’t been such a brave old fool he’d still be here now Doris would sob in thought. If only she could somehow communicate with Jake, at least she might know if he and the others were still alive. Not knowing either way tormented her. Yet under the circumstances, the last thing she wanted to do was risk upsetting the twins. So for their sakes she managed to hide her worries and put on a brave face. Somehow the twins gave her hope that in the end all might work out. If nothing else, at least she could take some comfort knowing the twins were safe so long as she was there to watch over them.

  “Tell us where you come from Little Jewel?” Kirsten asked the unipeg on one of the twins many visits to the stables. “What’s it like there?”

  “Yeah, and tell us about the battles you’ve fought in?” Nicole added
also directing her question at Little Jewel.

  “And you Morning-star…tell us something too. We know you can talk, we’ve heard both of you talking in your sleep. So come on, don’t be shy—Oh please talk to us.” Kirsten said.

  “Your wounds…they must have hurt you so deeply.” Nicole said to Little Jewel as she reached out to touch the scares on the unipeg’s neck. Little Jewel became restless and reared up, kicking the fence with her front legs as she landed.

  “Wooee! Settle down Little Jewel,” Kirsten said stepping back from the fence. “Don’t get all upset, we’re not here to harm you. We just want to find out what you know.”

  “Yes, that’s right.” Nicole chipped in, bending to pick up a carrot from a bucket to offer to Little Jewel. “We only want to find out about our Ma and Da. We’d really appreciate knowing anything you could tell us.” The unipegs didn’t respond. “Well—if you don’t want to talk about it today then maybe tomorrow.” Nicole concluded as Little Jewel crunched away at the carrot she’d softly taken from Nicole’s hand. The twins looked at each other, Nicole eyeing towards the barn doors, giving Kirsten a let’s get going signal.

  “We could tell you what we know.” Morning-star said. Hearing the unipeg speak, the twins heading for the barn doors stopped in their tracks. There was shock on the twins faces which was quickly replaced by looks of surprise and then by sheer delight. “We know everything. Well nearly everything. But if we tell you, you must both promise not to tell anyone else.” Morning-star added as the twins approached.

  “I promise not to.” Kirsten said.

  “I promise too.” Nicole agreed nodding.

  “There, we both have promised not to say a word to anyone.” Kirsten reassured.

  Morning-star moved his head up and down a few times and made high pitched nickering sounds that only unipegs make. Tears filled his blue eyes as he tried to compose his thoughts. The twins were concerned and were about to ask if he was okay but when Morning-star started to speak again they listened. “Alex Parker is your granddad. He lived at number forty-five, Ashworth Court, a tower block in Blackpool, England. Well he did live there until he decided to take the long journey to the Island.” Morning-star began.

  “Wow, you know where our grandfather lived?” Nicole asked.

  Morning-star continued. “Yes. Your granddad was most certainly a nervous man. He was the last man you’d imagine to be caught up in anything venturous. Being a really poor fish factory worker, he hadn’t any hope of ever changing his circumstances and that did play on his mind. His work consisted of heading, gutting, cleaning and hand packing mackerel into tin cans.”

  “A cold, dirty and smelly job.” Little-Jewel added.

  “A bit like this stable then.” Nicole whispered in Kirsten’s ear.

  Kirsten rolled her eyes. “Please carry on Morning-star. Nicole poked her tongue out at Kirsten.

  “Where was I?” Morning-star asked.

  “The fish factory.” Kirsten said smiling and staring at the beast’s head, its long sharp spiral horn glowing bright.

  “Yes that’s right.” Morning-star continued. “After the messy work, the fish was steamed and the cans sealed with lids, cooked and labelled. Oh, sure it was a deadly boring job, but work wasn’t easy to come by. Rather than concentrating on his studies, as a schoolboy, Alex messed about so there wasn’t ever going to be any hope of him ending up in a well paid job. From what I’m aware, only the poorest people from run down council estates ended up working on factory production lines.”

  “I see.” Kirsten said.

  “To earn a little extra money for his family, your granddad had a weekend job. He drove around the streets in an old white van collecting scrap metal. He picked up damped gas cookers, washing machines, off cuts of copper piping, old bicycles and any odd items containing metals he knew he could sell. The money he got for these wasn’t much but everyone who knew him knew he tried his best to provide for his family.”

  “He was really poor, like us then.” Nicole commented.

  “What did he look like?” Kirsten asked.

  “Your granddad, Mr Parker was a tall, sturdy man. He had thick, soft white hair. He paid particular attention to his hair. The look of it was very original to him. He styled his hair towards his forehead using a wide tooth comb. He took great care to ensure it didn’t get all messed up in the wind so often wore a baseball cap.

  “Did our grandma have white hair too?” Nicole asked?

  “Oh your grandmother, Mr. Parker’s younger wife…Bella her name. She was tall and slim. She had fair skin and long blond hair. She applied lots of makeup to look her best. She loved your granddad in ways only great poets can describe. Mr. Parker felt dreamlike every time she graced his presence, her hips swayed as she walked.” The twins giggled.

  “Olivia is the Parkers’ daughter and she is your mother. They loved her very much. They hadn’t planned to involve her in their plan to free Nathan but they couldn’t leave her behind and she ended up becoming leader and bearer of the crystal sword.” The girls listened carefully.

  “The Parkers’ lived normal lives and they lived with secrets too. Every time they’d remember what they’d done, they’d experience overwhelming feelings of guilt. The feelings spread to their tummies as if huge butterflies were inside. They dread the thought that somebody might find out. They honestly couldn’t dwell on the thought of someone finding out they’d taken their neighbour’s son, Nathan to the Dark Bells Castle.”

  “Tell them who Nathan is to them.” Little Jewel said.

  “Nathan is your dad.” Morning-star said. “He was a brave boy.”

  “Well…what is the Dark Bells Castle and why was our Da taken there?” Nicole asked Morning-star.

  “Bella had come across an article on the internet about a special kind of school called, the Dark Bells Foundation. It offered to reform certain kinds of children. Their neighbour, Mrs Taylor —who is your other grandma—couldn’t cope with Nathan, who was her youngest son. Just like your great Gandma, Mrs Taylor looked after her children all by herself. After making some enquiries, the Parkers’ offered to take Nathan to Dark Bells. It’d had cost Mrs. Taylor £10,000 which covered the cost for the journey and paid for Nathan’s admission. It was money Mrs. Taylor borrowed from Tony Stokes, a nightclub owner.

  “Ha ha, Mr. Stokes…do you remember what happened to him.” Little Jewel said then continued to laugh as he thought about it.”

  “What happened to Mr Stokes?” Kirsten asked Morning-star.

  “I’ll get to that later. It was a big decision for Mrs. Taylor but it was the only alternative she had because she just couldn’t cope with Nathan’s strange behaviour.

  “Why was our Da strange?” Nicole asked.

  “He was strange because he was too inquisitive and too sensitive.” Morning-star answered.

  “Put simply he was too much of a technology geek and his mother couldn’t cope with his obsessive behaviour.” Little Jewel said. She had five children and no husband. I guess we can’t really blame her for not being able to cope. Little Jewel concluded.

  “They’d travelled to the remote island called Vonberg Island.

  “Where’s that?” Nicole asked.

  “It’s located about one hundred miles north of Kaua’i Island, which is part of the Hawaii Islands.” Kirsten reached into her jacket pocket and took out her smart phone and was about to Google it. “You’ll not find it on any map. It’s a ghost Island.

  “A ghost Island?” Nicole asked looking baffled.

  “Vonberg hides from reality.” Little Jewel said.

  “Then how can anyone find it or see it or even get there?” Kirsten questioned the unipegs.

  “It can either reveal itself if someone on the Island deactivates the mirror mist shield. The only other way is if someone were to make it to where the island is located and sounded a certain high patched tone then this would cause the mirror mist shield to dissolve.”

  “Sounds complicated and very st
range.” Kirsten said.

  “The whole Island is a complicated network of strange entities. I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly tell you its precise location because still to this very day there’s a tone of hidden treasure there, mostly gold coins. And besides, if you ever discovered the treasure you’d be too amazed and overjoyed to even work out how you’d get it all off the Island.

  “Wow, can you imagine what we could do with all that treasure.” Nicole said to Kirsten.

  “In the middle of Vonberg Island was and still is an ancient castle called Dark Bells.” Morning-star said.

  “That’s not entirely true. Little Jewel said. She continued. “We managed to escape death. We managed to get away from the sixth battle before the dragons finished us off. It was too overwhelming. There were just too many of them and not enough of us. That battle was badly planned. Rex made sure the dragons were bigger than us, could fly faster, their wings were of course much, much larger and heavy with long and sharp chromium thorny spikes on all edges. Their claws were needle sharp and as strong as titanium. Look and see how one of their claws had so easily cut into my neck. Look at my right wing,—what’s left of it—see how the fire one breathed on it had the desired effect.” He paused for a few moments. “Though it looked like our side were losing the battle, we cannot say for sure that Dark Bells or the Island still exists. We just do not know what happened. Maybe a seventh battle occurred and Olivia might have managed to strike the seventh dark bell with the crystal sword.”

  “Do you mean that if the Island isn’t there then the treasure isn’t there…I mean it all cannot be found?” Nicole asked?

  “Of course not dummy. How can it be found if wherever it is, is not here anymore.” Kirsten replied.

  “Okay for sure we cannot say one way or the other if the Island is still there or not. But since we haven’t heard from the others for seven years we can only expect the worse case scenario.” Morning-star said.