The Beast of Castleton

The quest story that my kiddie's at school started writing this week was titled "The Beast of Castleton" to link to their class topic and trip.  I planned and wrote this at school after lots of inspiration from the kids work... It's written in their format so is relatively short!  Should give you a giggle if nothing else.

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Many years ago, in a small village called Castleton in the middle of the Peak District, lived a young man named Peter.  Having lived in the village since he was a child, Peter knew of the terrors that plagued his village by night.  For as long as he could remember, on the night of the full moon, a terrible beast rampaged through the streets, leaving a trail of chaos and destruction in it's path.  One Sunday lunchtime, Peter was sitting outside the pub with his friends while the sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky.  Having had a little too much to drink and thinking they were clever, they decided that they would gather a hunting party together and hunt the beast while it slept and slay it so that they could become hero's.

 

As the sun reached it's highest point in the sky, the eight friends set out from the pub towards the village boundary.  Nearing the edge of the creepy forest that lay between them and the beast's cavern Peter noticed a shadowy figure leant against the huge gates that had been built in an attempt to keep the beast out. 

"I know what you plan to do."  A husky female voice came form the figure, though no-one saw her face.  "You will fail.  The beast that dwells in the cave is far stronger than you can imagine."

One of the friends laughed and tried to brush past the woman, but Peter decided that they should probably hear her out; she seemed to know what she was talking about.

"To truly kill the beast you must chop off it's head with this sword."  She produced a shiny silver sword from beneath the grey cloak that concealed her body.  "It's blade is pure silver and is the only thing that will slay the beast.  Now go!"

Laughing off the experience the hunting party trudged through the eerie silence of the dark forest towards the entrance to the great caverns that the beast had made it's home.

 

After what seemed like hours to the hunting party, they finally reached the beasts lair.  They crept inside the wide cavern entrance and followed the walls to find their way through the maze like tunnels.  A low growling pierced the silence as one of the men tripped over a rock, sending it rattling through the tunnel.  The beast was awake!  The growling got louder as the beast began to run through the cave looking for the intruders.  When it came face to face with the hunting party it snapped it's huge jaws at them, saliva dripping from between sharp white teeth.  The beast of Castleton was none other than a werewolf!

The bravest of the group of hunters was Peter and he realised now that he had to end the beast's life because his friends wouldn't be able too.  He took the sword from the hand of the leader and stepped forwards towards the beast. 

 

A roar ripped through the tunnels as Peter took a swipe at the massive black wolf and managed to draw blood.  Unfortunately for the so called hunters, this attracted the attention of the wolf's mate.  They heard her coming before they saw her, and one unlucky member of the group happened to be stood in her way.  She thundered down the tunnel and bounded around the corner, knocking over one of the men before barging past Peter and circling him, ushering him away from her mate.  Her bronze fur stood on end, making her look twice her actual size and her liquid brown eyes pierced Peter with a glare that made him tremble with fear.  The wolves worked together, protecting each other, and drove the men back towards the entrance to the cave. 

 

Peter could see the sun streaming in through the caves entrance behind them as they back stepped away from the advancing wolves.  He was running out of time.  Waiting for the female wolf to sidestep, continuing her herding of the hunting party, Peter took his chance and stepped forward, lifting the silver sword high above his head and swinging it down towards the male wolf.  It sliced easily through the wolf and his head rolled across the floor.  The female wolf let out a loud whine and stepped towards her fallen mate.  Peter readied himself to kill her too, but to his amazement she backed off, her head hung low to the floor.  She was surrendering.  With some discussion, the hunting party decided to spare her life and left the cave quickly while her attention was still on her mate.  They returned to their village as hero's, with their story and the beast's blood on the sword.

 

... But was this the end of the terrible beast of Castleton, or would the next full moon bring the she wolf to the village to exact her revenge??