Children's writing: Continue a story - by Arya

What a superb piece of writing, Arya! Your task was to continue the story from a chapter extract from the book, 'The Giant Under The Snow' by John Gordon (1968), picking up on all the features and continuing writing as if you were the author. 

Your first line is perfect as its sets the scene by introducing the characters followed shortly after by some beautifully described setting imagery. It had me hooked straight away.

Bill, Arf and Jonk were frozen in fear as the silhouette of the svelte man strode towards them. Looming behind the man were trees, thin bare trees. The air was crisp and a crawling white fog limited the point of visibility. There was no sign of life… it was as if the trees had swallowed up all  the birds. The sky was suddenly filled with spite, then there was then an animal coming up from behind the skinny man.

Thanks you so much for sharing.

Let's read ...

THE BATTLE

Bill, Arf and Jonk were frozen in fear as the silhouette of the svelte man strode towards them. Looming behind the man were trees, thin bare trees. The air was crisp and a crawling white fog limited the point of visibility. There was no sign of life… it was as if the trees had swallowed up all  the birds. The sky was suddenly filled with spite, then there was then an animal coming up from behind the skinny man.

They could see them. It looked vile. Tottering through the forest on what looked like high heels was the leathermen. The animal (if it even was an animal) had mawkish skin and it seemed that every tree they passed they melted into it .  Their tail was slender and worm-like and their bodies look as though all the air had been beaten out of them and their ribs burst out of their skin which protruded out into the open. The leathermen had protracted, jagged nails that were  shaper than a tiger’s tooth.

The leathermen paced towards Bill, Arf and Jonk; out of natural instinct Bill grabbed the nearest thing next to him which was a stick with  it he smashed it at the leatherman but it just blew into smithereens like a Minecraft creeper. Surprisingly, there was only a mere drop of blood from the leatherman’s face. Also the leatherman’s blood wasn’t the normal type of blood but a sickly, toxic green substance that you would find in a nuclear waste dump.

Bill screamed in protest, “Aghrrh!” While he charged aggressively at one of the leathermen. The impact bringing it to its knees before he ripped out it’s  deadliest weapon. It’s fingers. Using it he stabbed the leatherman through its heart, showering it’s acidy blood all over the place and before long it was bathing in the toxic, viscus blood.

Arf and Jonk then decided to join Bill in the battle. All three of them roaring their battle cries that could be heard from miles and miles away. After a few minutes, all you could hear is the clinking and clanging and chinking and changing and hacking  of axes and swords being thrown at each other. There were anxious calls from the mystery man bellowing at  his soldiers to keep up the war. Snarling at his black wolf, he commanded  it to help the leathermen by lashing at the human kids; disarming them. Fortunately for Bill he got the upper hand on the wolf and drove an axe,that had become his main weapon, through the wolf’s chest and the wolf just disappeared.

“Bill! Well done!” shouted Arf and Jonk at the same time.

Thus, the queer man called off his army of leathermen and ordered them to retreat or at least that’s what they thought until they glimpsed them marching towards their house.

Horror struck them!

Don! Don! Don!

-ENDS-