THE LORD OF THE CHESTNUTS BOOK 1

THE LORD OF THE CHESTNUTS BOOK 1
THE POWER
OF THE SIX



CHAPTER 1
In a land called Angoria, a land uninhabited by humans there lived a mouse named Connor. He had 2 friends named Samy and Dany. Whenever Connor played with them they always did the same thing- learn about the history of Angoria.

Connor stood in the pouring rain waiting for the sound of a bell. The bell would tell him to scurry to his friends’ hole. Finally it rang. DING, DONG, BING, BONG! He rushed to Dany and Samy’s hole.

When he got there Dany greeted him. “Hello Connor! Guess what? The Great Eagle told me there is treasure in the west!” The Great Eagle was an old eagle who was 100 (animal) years old. He was one of the great warriors of ancient Angoria. Samy got out a chest. Then he said, pointing to the chest, “This chest contains weapons from the time The Great Eagle was 20. We will each choose 2 weapons.” First, Samy chose a sword and a shield. Then Connor chose a spear, a bow, and some arrows. Finally, Dany took 2 swords.

“Now that we’re ready,” said Dany, “we head westward.”
CHAPTER 2
Connor woke in his friends’ hole. “You finally woke up. We’ve been waiting for 2 whole hours!” “Early risers,” thought Connor. “What time is it?” he asked sheepishly. “Uh, 3:00 in the morning.” Dany answered. “We woke you up by playing classical rock music with the volume at 100.

Samy handed Connor a torch. “We’re going through the shadow woods,” he whispered “watch out for owls.” They left the hole with their weapons. After they had walked a mile (we would call it 150 yards) they saw 3 dark figures a few (real) feet in front of them. “Bats,” cursed Dany, “and just in time.” Connor pointed his torch in the figures’ direction. “They’re not bats,” he said, “they’re flying lizards!”

They climbed on the flying lizards’ backs and they glided from tree to tree until they reached the end of the forest. Then they took a rest.





CHAPTER 3
They woke up at 7:00 a.m. “Oak Forest lies northward,” said Dany, “normally, we would only go west. But we need one thing—information. The Great Eagle lives there.” So they traveled a good 2 miles(300 yards) and reached The Great Eagle’s tree. They climbed in without much effort.
“Who are you?” A voice boomed. “Dany and company.” Dany answered. “Oh, Dany.” The voice said quieter this time. “You seek information correct?” “Correct.” Dany answered.
“I am The Great Eagle,” the voice started, “one out of two of the oldest animals. The other’s title is The Shadow Master. No one knows what type of animal he is. Anyway, he made magic. And he stored that magic in chestnut shells. He carved the chestnut shells into helmets. I stole them and buried them. He went into a rage and put a curse on trees because eagles live in trees. So the trees can not fight alongside animals any more. Since then The Shadow Master has rallied more animals to his cause. The spiders, scorpions, bats, mosquitoes, owls, rats, poison ivy, poison oak (they’re curse was taken away), and weeds have already took his side.” “Thanks!” The mice said. Then they left the tree and went to sleep.
CHAPTER 4
“Rats.” Dany cursed.
“Hmmm,” said Connor, “which one? The emotion, or the noun?”

“The noun, peanut butter brain!” Dany answered with his teeth clenched.

“Oh that’s not good,” said Connor.

Then the mice heard grass being cut down by swords.
“Weapons out!” Dany said. And in 2 seconds Dany drew his swords, Connor took out his spear and bow and put an arrow to the string, and Samy took out his shield and drew his sword.

The sound got closer and closer. Then out of the grass came 20 rats! And so the battle began. After they had sliced up a good 10 of them the grass started to tie around the last 10. Soon they were hanging up high. As they started to walk away Samy chuckled to himself “So that’s why they call hair tangles rats’ nests!”
CHAPTER5
And so the mice continued their journey west. They hadn’t traveled to long before Connor saw a large orange mark in the ground. “Guys, you have to see this!” he said. When they looked at the ground they couldn’t see anything. “Apparently this mark was meant for me.” He thought.

So he started digging. Dirt came flying from his paws. Finally he found a chestnut shell. This they could see. “Connor what is that?” Samy asked. It’s a chestnut shell.” Connor answered. “Look it’s got 2 holes in it!” Samy said with excitement. “Could you please put it on?” Dany asked. Connor put it on. The shell glowed orange. It was one of the magic chestnut shells.

As they started walking The Great Eagle perched in front of them. “I forgot to mention 2 things,” he said, “one is that there are 6 chestnut shells and two is that the treasure I was talking about was them.” “I have one here! Connor said with excitement. “Holy atoms!” The Great Eagle said, “That is the chestnut that controls earth!” “What are atoms?” Dany asked. “Oh,” said The Great Eagle, “That is a story for another time.” And then he flew away.
CHAPTER 6
The mice came upon a river one day. It was the kind of river we would call a stream. Connor put on his chestnut shell. It glowed, and then faded. He tried again, this time saying these words: “Ground carved by water, (so good to surf) let not this river crash thy turf!” The chestnut shell glowed like a newly lit fire, and earth started piling onto the river. Soon it was buried in dirt.

After they had crossed were the river used to be they felt a trembling like an earthquake in the ground beneath them. “Please tell me there aren’t ground scorpions living here.” Samy said in a small, week voice. Three pink heads came out of the ground. “Thank goodness it’s worms!” Dany said gratefully. “We could make an underground path for you,” a worm said. “Where are you headed?” another said. “The Shadow Master’s wall of Death,” answered Dany. “WHAT?” asked Connor as if Dany was insane. “We can take you to the flower kingdom just south from there,” offered a worm. “All right,” accepted Dany.



CHAPTER 7
It had been a day since they had met the worms. “Suppose they don’t come back?” asked Samy, “What then?” “Don’t worry,” Dany said, “Worms never lie.”

An hour later the worms came back. “The tunnel is built.” said one. “And it leads all the way to the flower kingdom.” said another. But watch out,” said the last, “There are moles and ground scorpions down there.”

They went down the beginning of the tunnel. At first they saw only bare ground and shadows from the wall. Then they heard the worst sound they had heard before—scales rattling. “We weren’t informed of snakes in the tunnel,” Connor said.

The rattling sound came closer and closer. Then they saw a 2 ½ foot snake. Connor stabbed his spear into the wall. And then he shot an arrow into the other wall. Next he quickly tied the other end of the rope to his spear. The snake tripped on the rope and Dany and Samy started hacking at it. A scale came off and Samy stabbed the patch of bare skin. The snake moaned, and then died.
CHAPTER 8
The mice continued down the path. They never saw or heard anything but each other. “If this leads to the flower kingdom,” Connor asked, “how far away is that?” “I don’t know,” Dany answered, “but I’m sure we’ve walked 1/8 of the tunnel.”

Soon they heard a sound like rats walking. But the treading was heavier. “Moles?” asked Samy. “Ground hogs?” asked Connor. “Both,” Dany answered, “moles on one side of the tunnel, ground hogs on the other.” “So, witch way do we go?” Samy asked. “Towards the ground hogs,” Dany answered, “they should be friendly.” So the mice ran and ran. They were going so fast they nearly collided with the ground hogs. “Well hello there!” shrieked many tiny little voices. “Uh, we need a little help,” said Dany. “With what?” the ground hogs asked. “Fighting off all those moles,” Dany answered. “We can help you with that,” said all the ground hogs.

The ground hogs put their archers on the tunnel ledges. Connor joined them. The ground hogs put their spearmen in front. They put their spadesmen behind the spearmen. Finally, they put their swordsmen in back. The ground hogs were ready for battle. The sound was coming terribly close.
They finally saw the moles. “Now!” said the head ground hog and arrows fell everywhere. The archers killed many moles, but about half of the moles had shields. The moles shot their own arrows, but the ground hogs were already on the move. Few ground hogs died.


The ground hogs advanced. Their spearmen killed many of the moles in the front line, but then they were destroyed. The spadesmen on the other hand, dug separate tunnels and randomly popped out of the ground in a surprise attack. The ground hog swordsmen collided with the mole axemen. The swordsmen sliced up every axemen they could possibly find. Only 3 swordsmen died.

Connor put on his chestnut. It glowed, and gun powder from the ground collected on his next arrow. He had noticed that not a single blow could destroy the general mole. And he was right, for the general was genetically created in the forges of Sorcengruard, the land of the Shadow Master. Connor shot his arrow, and as soon as it hit the general, the general exploded. With the general out of the way the ground hogs destroyed the remaining moles.
CHAPTER 9
The ground hogs escorted the mice through a large portion of the tunnel. “We’re almost at the end of the tunnel.” said the head ground hog. “And the flower kingdom!” added Samy. Out of nowhere came many ground-dwelling lizards. “They have come to carry us the rest of the way.” said the head ground hog.

They mounted the lizards. As they walked along, they heard a clanking noise. “Scorpions,” the head ground hog said, “they can only be killed by swordsmen.” “In that case,” said Samy and Dany, “we’ll be happy to fight.” Then they dismounted.

They finally saw the scorpions. “Here is the end of the tunnel.” said one. “And you’re not gonna live to walk through it.” taunted another.

The ground hog archers fired, but their arrows bounced off the scorpions’ insect armor. Samy charged forward and chopped off a scorpion’s left pincher. Dany chopped off a scorpion’s stinger. Soon all of the swordsmen joined them. In the end all the scorpions were destroyed, along with ¼ of the swordsmen.
“Spadesmen,” said the head mole, “start now.” And the spadesmen started to dig through the dead end of earth in front of them.

The spadesmen finished two hours later. When all of the ground hogs and mice squeezed through the hole they saw a huge army of rats on bats, squirrels, and scorpions. The battle began violently.

Wounded, the mice and their lizards hid together. All the ground hogs had been slain and their lizards fled. The enemy started to divide into three groups. Each headed in a separate direction. “I’ve got a plan,” said Dany, “Samy will follow the group of squirrels because he is the quickest, Connor will follow the group of rats on bats because he has a bow, and I will follow the group of scorpions because I am a natural scorpion-poacher.” “Agreed!” said Connor and Samy together. And so the mice split up to uncover their enemies’ secrets.









CHAPTER 10

Connor and his lizard were traveling on the side of the dirt road that their enemies were walking on. He always had his journal with him so he could record his observations. Here is what he recorded:

Destination: The 7 mouse colonies.
Why: To destroy us
(The Shadow Master warned them of us).

He new he would never catch up to the rats and bats if they kept flying. He had to slow them down. But how? He had an idea. He would destroy the bats.

Connor and his lizard climbed up a tree. They found a hole, and edged to the darkest part of it. Connor aimed an arrow strait at a bat. It hit his enemy perfectly, and the bat died immediately. By then the rats and bats were aware that they were not alone. They started flying through the trees in search of him.

Every time a bat came to close he would shoot it. If a bat found him he would stab it with his spear. Of course, this would help the enemy find him, but at least he was getting rid of the bats.

The last bat and his rider flew north, towards Sorcenguard. “Oh great,” Connor thought, “now I’ll have a whole new army to deal with. Anyway, I’d better deal with this one.” He and his lizard leaped down the tree and slew the rats.

Riding on his lizard, he commanded the mice in the colonies to put guards around the colonies. The mice, knowing that anyone riding a lizard knew what was going on, put guards around the colonies immediately.

Knowing they had done a good deed, Connor and his lizard rode towards the army that was sure to meet them.










CHAPTER 11
Dany woke early in the morning. The scorpions that he was chasing decided to go to bed early and wake up early so they would lose anyone pursuing them. But Dany heard about it and was now on the same clock as they were.

Dany decided to attack the camp that very morning. He woke his lizard. Soon they attacked and slew many scorpions.

The remaining scorpions fled north, and Dany and his lizard followed them like a dog chasing a squirrel.

They chased them all morning, and they chased them all afternoon. They ran for miles, and then they got to the Wall of Death. Dany slew the scorpions, scrambled up a tree, and leapt into the nearest hole (with his lizard). He would have to wait for one of his friends.






CHAPTER 12
Samy knew he couldn’t fight squirrels all alone. He might be the quickest mouse in all of Angoria, but he was not nearly one of the strongest. At least he had a plan.

He put his plan into action at night. He lit torches and put them in trees so the squirrels would think they were outnumbered. As the squirrels ran away, Samy blew out all of the torches. Then he and his lizard chased the squirrels.

Samy’s plan was working! He guided the squirrels to the mountains. Cougars roared, then leaped down their cliffs to get their early breakfast.

Samy was taken to the Mountain palace were he was offered a room for the night. He accepted it and finally slept comfortably.






CHAPTER 13
While Connor slept the army of enemies came nearer. By the time he woke it was visible. He had to warn the mice. He rode his lizard back to the colonies. “The army is visible in the morning sky,” Connor said, “and it’s ready to destroy.”

The mice new that danger was at hand. Their own army marched through the barrier gates. The battle raged. The rats fought hard, but the mice proved that size and strength has nothing to do with power. But somehow, their enemies were winning. Connor felt the same way he did at the ground hog vs. moles battle. He knew what to do. He put on his chestnut and gunpowder burst out of the ground and collected on his next arrow.
He shot it at the rat with the most armor. The rat exploded immediately. Mouse archers shot many rats. Soon only the rat that was second in command and 2 other rats were alive. The leader (by this time he was considered the leader) charged Connor and slew his lizard. While he fought Connor, the two other rats covered him. Later, Connor became disarmed. The rats locked him in chains and tied his weapons to the chains. The rats disappeared into the forest and began their march to the Wall of Death.
















CHAPTER 14
Dany knew that winter was coming. He also knew that he had to reunite with his companions before he was discovered or before winter started (winter might bring blizzards or whiteouts).


At the mountains Samy woke up. He knew that if Dany was anywhere, he was in the middle of trouble (the Wall of Death, that is). So he took his weapons and headed off. “This had better be a shorter journey than I think it is,” he thought.


On the trip to the Wall of Death Connor felt sick. He had to eat rat food. He always did loathe rats, but he never knew they were so disgusting.


Samy started to run. He ran as fast as an un-intelligent mouse trying to dodge butcher knives.





CHAPTER 15
Connor was almost there—to the Wall of Death. He could see it’s towers made of black-colored marble, it’s black-colored base of rock, and it’s thick walls of black steel.


Dany saw the captors of Connor and Connor himself. He leapt from the tree he was perched in and killed two of the rats. After slaying the leader, Dany cut Connor’s chains. Connor then retrieved his weapons. “Thank you,” said Connor, “and aren’t you supposed to be dead?” “Save the questions for later.” Dany said. “Why hurry?” Connor asked. “Black Archers,” was all Dany answered.

When the two friends had scrambled up the tree, they found Dany’s lizard dead. After they had buried it, they had a decent talk.

Once the friends had told their stories they went to bed.




CHAPTER 16
“Will Samy ever get here? What are Black Archers? How well equipped is the Wall of Death?”

These are the questions Connor had when he woke in the morning. He sat up in the tree and looked around. His weapons were still there. Dany’s weapons were still there. He overheard a conversation between two black figures perched on the Wall of Death.

“Winter is coming quickly.” said the first.
“Everyone knows that.” said the second.
“But winter brings a large battle in witch we play a large part.” insisted the first.
“Oh, fiddlesticks!” snapped the second. “I hope we could start now and turn all of Angoria into Scorcenguard quickly.”
“Quiet!” said the first. “He might hear you.”

Connor had no question of who “he” was. “He” was the Shadow Master. The conversation continued.



“Anyway,” continued the first, “the new fortress is now under construction. We have a good chance of winning.”
“Really,” asked the second, “were is it located?”
“Between the Realm of Shadows and the Wall of Death.” aswered the first.
“What is it called?” asked the second.
“The Fortress of darkness.” answered the first.

Just hearing “The Fortress of Darkness” and “the Realm of Shadows” for the first time made a chill run down Connor’s spine. He wrote in his notebook:

What: The Fortress of Darkness.
What (2): Under construction.
Where: Between the Realm of Shadows and the Wall of Death.
Why: To strengthen Scorcenguard.










CHAPTER 17
“A fortress called the Fortress of Darkness is under construction between the Realm of Shadows and the Wall of Death built to strengthen Scorcenguard?” Dany asked with rage. “How can they do this to us? The journey will be a lot harder now!”

Just then the two mice heard soft footsteps. Dany lunged out of the tree. He came back carrying Samy. “What are Black Archers?” Samy demanded. “All right,” said Dany, “Black Archers are things with beady red eyes. They are dressed in all black and have dark hoods. Their crossbows and arrows are black and if a black arrow hits you, then you will serve the Shadow Master until he is destroyed.” “That is scary.” said Samy.

“The Black Archers were discussing the Fortress of Darkness!” exclaimed Connor. “What’s the Fortress of Darkness?” asked Samy. So Connor explained what it was.




CHAPTER 18
“Any more information, Connor?” asked Dany.
“Yes,” Connor answered, “only one more thing. I almost forgot. The army of Scorcenguard is preparing to openly attack Coranor.” (Coranor was the good side of Angoria)
“Then we must warn all of Coranor!” said Dany. “But how? Any ideas?”

Samy answered this question quickly. “We will go to the center of Coranor and have the whole main groundhog army blow trumpets at the same time.”
“But how are we supposed to get there before the first week of winter ends?” asked Connor.
“Have you forgotten the horn of eagles I brang on our journey?”

Then all of the sudden the cry of the horn of eagles broke out. It was louder than a bear but softer than the cry of a dragon it was a perfect imitation of an eagle’s chilling cry.

Eagles started flocking on the tree. Three eagles approached the mice. The three friends recognized one of the eagles as the Great Eagle. “Greetings, friends.” he said. “These are my two sons. The one on the left’s name is Hawkward. The one on the right’s name is Harkcry.” “What have you called us for?” asked Harkcry. “I answer the horn of eagles.”
“We wish to have a lift.” answered Dany.
“To where?”
“The center of Coranor.”
“You must be joking! That will only take a day!”

For the mice, of course, a day could be considered a very long time. But still they climbed onto the eagles’ backs.

Samy was riding Hawkward. Of course a mouse couldn’t see1/4 of what an eagle could see. So he asked Hawkward what he could see. (after all, Harkward’s nickname was Farsight)

Dany was riding Harkcry. (Harkry was known as the messenger of eagles) “Can you hear anything?” asked Dany. “I hear the horn of war sounding at the Wall of Death.” Harkry answered. “Oh no,” said Dany, “I have to warn Samy and Connor.”

Dany sprang up and landed on the Great Eagle and told Connor and the Great Eagle the news. He did the same for Hawkward and Samy. Then he returned to Harkcry.

Connor, as you may have guessed, was riding the Great Eagle. “In one minute we will be at the center of Coranor!” the Great Eagle proclaimed.


Connor told the others by jumping from eagle to eagle (he couldn’t be heard from the back of another eagle over the wind).

When the mice arrived in the heart of Coranor they started digging like mad. When they finally found the main ground hog army (it took 4 hours to do so) Dany said in a loud voice: “Get out of that hole, and make haste! Time is fast. Coranor will be attacked and it doesn’t know it. We want you all to blow trumpets at once!”

The trumpets were blown and the army prepared. The battle would begin the next day.









CHAPTER 19
With the leaders on eagles, the army of Coranor grew as they marched through Coranor. Mice and lizards (including the ferocious Komodo dragon) had already tagged along.

Then the army saw it. The great glacier that pushed through Angoria every winter. And on it a huge army of 200 bats, 400 rats, 100 arctic foxes, and 7 polar bears. (200 rats rode bats, 100 rode arctic foxes, and 100 went on foot) But on the tip of the glacier perched 5 black archers.

The army of Coranor put on (arrow proof, mind you) Eskimo suits. A messenger from Scorcenguard came across the battle line. He delivered this message:

Leader of Coranor’s army,

“That would be me.” Dany said in triumph.

I strongly suggest that we engage in battle at noon instead of this hour. Both sides can plan an attack and make provisions during this time.

“Sounds nice for a member of Scorcenguard.” said Dany.

Signed,
Widraw, 4th captain of the Black Archers

“4th captain of the Black Archers?” asked Dany, “Looks like we’re up against more than we thought.

“Tell your master that the proposal is accepted.” said Dany. And the messenger was off to the glacier like the wind.

“Has anyone in our army led a battle like this? Is anyone capable of making a plan better than mine that doesn’t prove suicide?” These were the questions Dany had in his mind. And yes, someone in their army had led a battle like this. And yes again, that someone had a better plan than his. That someone turned out to be the Great Eagle (what did you expect?). The plan was written neatly on a scroll:

Provisions:
An underground retreat must be constructed. (By the ground hogs) There will be a (very) large hole in it.
A 3rd of the army (excluding eagles) will be protecting the border and retreat. This army will be led by Samy. The 3rd will be all ground hogs.
Another 3rd of the army (mice) will be led by Dany.
It will be placed on the left of the retreat. (Before Samy’s troops)
The last 3rd of he army will be led by Connor.(Lizards)
It will be placed on the right of the retreat. (Before Samy’s troops)
The eagles will be in the retreat.

Action:
Dany’s troop will openly attack Scorcenguard’s.
Samy’s troop will stop the enemy from crossing the border and getting to the retreat.
Connor’s troops will circle around the glacier and enter it.
On the inside they will make the glacier move faster.
They will then shoot a hole in the top of the glacier.
Part of the enemy will fall into the hole.
A 3rd of the eagles will enter the glacier and take Connor’s troop out.
Dany’s army will then drive the enemy into the hole.
Once the enemy is all the way into the hole the whole army will fly to the retreat.

“Sounds good,” said Dany, “let’s get started.”



CHAPTER 20
Once all the provisions were made it was noon. “For Coranor!” shouted Dany. And the plan was in action.


Dany’s troops charged the glacier. Somehow, the enemy was still on the glacier. Of coarse, if the stayed their, the plan was likely to work. But Widraw just had to shout: “For Scorcenguard!” The enemy split up. One half of them charged forward, and one half of them stayed on the glacier. Now Samy’s troops would have something to do.


Connor’s job did not have anything to do with declaring an attack. Actually, it was the opposite! Using pickaxes they chopped a hole in the glacier and went inside. When they put the piece of ice back in its place, it froze back on.


Samy’s troops started having trouble when the enemy split up. They weren’t ready for twenty rats mounted on bats to fly strait at them. The ground hogs soon got used to it and shot all the bats. The rats, unfortunately, escaped. And soon more forces came. Luckily, these were not mounted on flying creatures. 7 squads of moles came rushing toward the border. Now we must return to Samy himself. He was fighting the leader of the first Squad. He couldn’t seem to kill this one. Samy hit his opponent the hilt of his sword. Then he killed it. There goes 2 moles, 3 moles, 4, 5, 6, 7. He had killed a whole squad.

And now we return to Dany. He only had one of his swords out, and already the enemy considered him a threat. He would use two swords when the hole in the glacier appeared.

Now Connor and his troops shot a hole in the top of the glacier. Down came all 5 Black Archers. The archers shot 3 lizards, but they were destroyed before they could do any evil.

From the retreat a 3rd of the eagles flew. They dodged every arrow shot by the enemy. “Soon we will enter the glacier.” the Great Eagle told his troops. His sons were keeping the retreat under control. He could rely on them.

Samy was fighting as if the weather itself was on his side. (And it was) He was fighting 7 soldiers now. 2 of his own soldiers cut in. They sure finished them off. Everything was going pretty well except for the fact that the 20 rats had made it across the border. Their part in the plan was completed. Now they only had to act as border guards.

There was a hole in the glacier now. Dany drew his 2nd sword. “Drive them into the hole!” he commanded his army and they did. Very few had to be killed.

Connor and his men shot most of the falling soldiers. It was then that the eagles came. “I hope you don’t mind if we drop in.” said the Great Eagle. Connor and his troops mounted the eagles. The Black Archers shot at the eagles but the shots missed. The eagles had left the glacier.

Dany gave the next order. “Fly to the retreat!” And his troops obeyed. They ran as fast as the eagles.

Samy gave the same command. Soon the whole army was inside. They mounted and took off. “We are going to the flower kingdom,” said Harkry, “winter has no effect there.” During the flight they slaughtered the rats that made it across the border. Connor used his chestnut to make the glacier collapse. But they did not know 2 things. The Black Archers had escaped and a new threat was rising.
THE STORY WILL CONTINUE IN







THE LORD OF THE CHESTNUTS BOOK 2

THE WALL,
CRYSTAL,
AND SPELL