Dragon's Flames Continued

Dragon's Flames
Part 2
Theresa Margaret

Every town he rode through shunned him. The women screamed in fright; the men turned away in disgust; the children jeered at him yelling, “Monster! Scar-face!” Luckily, his horse still recognized his good heart beneath the now gruesome exterior. Although the burns had hurt at first, the pain was no more.
Where can she be? wondered Peter as he rode in search of his beloved Eliana. I hope she is still alive.
Suddenly he found himself in an open glade. A small, thatch cottage stood at the far end, and smoke puffed from the tiny chimney. Peter dismounted and tied the bridle to a nearby tree before he knocked on the door.
“Enter,” called a high, crackly voice. Peter took a deep breath and opened the door. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he saw unless it were seeing his own reflection. A woman so old, so ugly, wrinkled, yellowed, and decrepit had never walked the earth nor would again. By instinct Peter divined that she was a witch or at least a fortune teller.
“What is it you desire?”
“I am seeking the fair Eliana, good lady,” replied Peter who wisely kept all remarks to himself.
“I see. I shall help you as I may.” Peter bowed but said nothing as the crone continued. “This map will show you your way, and this potion will give Eliana’s captor her greatest desire. You have only to speak the spell written on the bottle. Farewell.”
With that the crone turned back to her slow knitting, and Peter, whispering a grateful thanks, returned to his horse. He jumped onto his horse and began galloping down the route marked on the map. He glanced at the potion given him before stuffing it into his tunic, and a big grin rose on his face. At last I will be reunited with my love! Thank you so much whoever you are! The horse sensed his master’s glee and spurred himself onto faster speed.
Meanwhile, Eliana had slowly become good friends with Escarlata over the several weeks that she had been in the giant’s castle. Eliana told Escarlata of her whole life withholding only her magical powers which she was very careful to use only when she was utterly alone. Still she wished for her love and her freedom. She wisely withheld these desires from Escarlata, but still she yearned for the hopeful day when she would be able to live her happily ever after life with her true love.
TO BE CONTINUED.........

Dragon's Flames: Part 1

Dragon’s Flame

Theresa Margaret

Picture This: A young girl in an emerald green dress picking flowers. A scarlet fire-breathing dragon swooping down and carrying her off. A brave knight chasing after them after getting his face scorched by the dragon’s flames.

“Release me, you hideous beast,” demanded Eliana as she flew high above the clouds.
“Never. You are my prisoner, and if you don’t keep quiet and do as you are told, I shall eat you,” replied the dragon smoothly and coldly.
Eliana closed her mouth, but that doesn’t mean she stopped thinking. No, indeed, she would find a way to escape sooner or later. So Eliana remained quiet as they approached the ginormous ruins of a deserted giant’s castle.
The dragon promptly released Eliana when they reached the castle and said, “Welcome to my home. I am Escarlata, and I will show you to your rooms.”
Eliana obediently followed Escarlata, but all the while she was eagerly scanning her surroundings, searching for a possible escape route. Upon entering her new rooms, Eliana instantly knew that she would at least lack for nothing during her time in the castle. There was everything a person could need or desire stored up in those few rooms: books, food, clothing, bedding, washing materials, etc.
“I would like to explain why you are here,” said Escarlata as Eliana turned to face the dragon. “You see, unlike most dragons, I long only for companionship. I’m allergic to meat of all kinds, but I have yet to find a dragon with my food tastes willing to be my mate. So I bring people here to be my companions. You are the first of several who have not died of fright.”
Eliana said nothing, but moved by the silvery tears creeping into Escarlata’s eyes, she laid her hand on the scaly skin.
“Good night, my dear.” Escarlata left the room and locked the door. Eliana lifted her hands, pointed at the food stuffs, and muttered indistinctly. Immediately her favorite dinner began to cook. Satisfied that she had not lost her powers yet, Eliana explored the room.
Meanwhile, we have left the poor, scarred knight roaming the countryside in search of his bride-to-be, and that is where we shall leave him.
TO BE CONTINUED.........

Daughtry Review

Though he wasn’t successful in snagging the title “American Idol” in 2006, the talented singer, Chris Daughtry, has been very successful in making a name for himself. He has come out with his band, Daughtry. His band’s self-titled debut album is definitely one of the best debuts that I have heard from an American Idol contestant.

Daughtry isn’t a Christian band, but some of the lyrics in their album could be directed towards Christianity. In most of the songs, as most secular artists, their songs are directed more towards relationships, breakups, and such things, but Daughtry does not use inappropriate language or ideas in their songs, unlike most secular artists.

The songs themselves are very well-written. What impressed me was when I saw that Chris Daughtry had actually taken part of writing the songs, even some of them by himself, which, I believe, is the way to go. The songs are his in a sense, and thus he got to “know” them before going to the studio to record.

Daughtry doesn’t get too hard rocking. There is actually a lot of acoustic guitar in some of their songs. The tunes are very catchy, and I often find myself humming them far after I listen to the actual song. If I compared Daughtry to any other secular band, I would say they sound most like Nickelback, but with a more soothing tone.

Their album has been very successful. It grabbed the No. 1 position on the Billboard album chart after its ninth week of release. Currently, Daughtry is in the No. 5 position, having been on the chart for 28 weeks, while all the other top 10 have been on for way less.

When the shocking news had come that Chris Daughtry was voted off, and not Katharine McPhee, I was hoping that he would come out with an album anyway. He did, and it was more than I had expected.

Over all, Chris Daughtry’s band, Daughtry, is one of the best things America has gotten out of American Idol.

Padre Kino and the Indians, Part One

From Trisha, age15:

Okay so I wrote this story when I was like 10 for my history co-op, I haven't read it in forever or done any editing to it since I entered it in the fair so hopefully it's not to bad, but I thought I'd share it with you guys. This is the first couple pages:

Padre Kino and the Indians
A story about the Mission Nuestra Senora De Los Dolores

The sun was setting and just about everyone was in his hut at the Nuestra Senora De Los Dolores Mission. Except for a man walking along a stream. He was a padre named Eusebio Francisco Kino, who was a solidly built man and five-foot-six. There was also a Pima Indian girl walking with Padre Kino. Her name was Marie Margarita. She had brown eyes, dark brown hair, and was nine years old and looked like any other Indian girl.

While Padre Kino was walking he was thinking of all the good things that God had made and how good God had been to him. Marie Margarita was thinking a little differently though, she was thinking of the first time she had been at the Mission.

It had started when she was around eight years old in the wintertime. She still had her Indian name, Cactus Flower. She had become sick with influenza. So her parents called the medicine man. He did what he called his magic, but of course it did not work. Cactus Flower just got worse.

Finally, Cactus Flower’s older brother Brown Coyote suggested taking her to one of the padres. He said to his mother and father, ‘‘the padres have helped lots of other Indians like my friend Snakeskin. Why could he not help Cactus Flower?’’

His mother asked Brown Coyote, ‘‘Have you ever met any of the padre’s?’’
Brown Coyote answered, ‘‘Well no, but I have heard that they will be able to help Cactus Flower.’’

His father and mother hesitated, but after a few days, when Cactus Flower was near to death, they took her to Padre Kino since there seemed to be no other thing to do. When they got Cactus Flower to the Mission her parents asked one of the padres whose name was Padre Kino if he would take care of her and try to make her well again. He said he would. So Cactus Flower stayed at the Mission for a few weeks, resting.

While her parents waited at their Indian village, they sent Brown Coyote almost every day to go to where the sick Indians stayed to see how Cactus Flower was doing. Also, while she was there some Catholic Indians came to visit the sick Indians. One day they came over to were she was laying and began to talk to her. They told her about the places were the padres stayed and what they did. After their visit she could not sleep because she was thinking about all that the Indians had told her.

When she saw how happy the Catholic Indians were to be around the padre’s she wished that she could be like them and with them. So the next time she saw a Catholic Indian she asked if she could talk with Padre Kino. The Indian told her that he would try to make her request possible because the padre was very busy and left.

After a few days Padre Kino found time to come and see Cactus Flower. He entered the hut and said to Cactus Flower, ‘‘I heard that you wanted to see me Cactus Flower. Is there some thing you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yes Padre Kino. I want to ask you if you would teach me to become a Catholic like you have with some of the other Indians?” said Cactus Flower.

“Well, of course!” Then in a more solemn voice he said, “But you know you can not get baptized if you do not learn your prayers, songs, learn about the one true God, and you must learn the Spanish language. You must also learn to read and to write. You also need to learn some math. Do you think you will be able to do all those things? It will take a couple years and a lot of hard work.”

I guess it's not to bad for a ten year old :), I'll post some more of it next week.

~Trisha