The King's Crown by Gavin Johnson (best classic books to read txt) 📕

Uncle Ernesto was, surprisingly furious instead of petrified. “Get the hell out of my shop you nuisance!” he screamed. The robber was surprised at this and reacted by throwing the sword right at him. John leaped up, and caught the sword in midair, then landed right in front of the robber. Isabella and claire were amazed at this, but Jack just rolled his eyes.

The robber coward, but tried to hide it. “Get out of my shop fool!” Uncle Ernesto shouted. “Uh, I’m out of here!” the robber cried. And then he dashed through the door, and sprinted down the street.

When that little “excitement” was over, John asked Ernesto if they could take the rest of the day off. Ernesto hesitated before saying yes. John had saved his life. They had earned it. Then the boys asked the girls if they wanted to go on a walk with them, and they both eagerly said yes. Three hours later, The four were talking and laughing and acting like they had known each other for years. John soon found out that he had a major crush on Claire. A little while later, the kids sat down to catch their breath. While John told all his infamous blacksmith stories. Claire listened intently.

“Wow John, your life seems pretty cool!” Claire said, amazed. “Yeah, I wish I was that lucky!” Isabella chimed in. “What do you mean?” Jack asked. “Well, let’s just say our lives our kinda..... well, boring.”Isabella answered “Oh,” Jack said. I’m..... then, he was cut off by Claire shrieking,“SKUNK!”

The kids ran off, shouting, for their good smelling lives! They ran into a cave, small, beady drops of sweat trickling down their faces, all smiling. Is he coming? Jack asked. “Shhhhh..... Nope, we’re clear Come on guys, let’s get out of here before....” And then, as if on cue, A gigantic boulder, when a ledge gave due to its weight, came crashing down.

“OH NOOOOOOOO!” the kids screamed in unison, “ WE’RE TRAPPED!

Claire tried to push the boulder away, but failed in every attempt. The place was pitch black, so no one could see their hand in front of their face, Isabella felt her way around, soon, something brushed across her hand. A wooden stick! It felt very thick. “Maybe there are more of these, if there are, maybe I can make some fire!” She felt around some more, accidentally bumping into someone, “Sorry!” It was Jack. “Oh, it’s alright,” Isabella replied. She heard Jack squeak in embarrassment. She felt around for a couple of minutes, and finally felt a thinner wooden stick.

She rubbed them together furiously, and blew lightly, and then, what seemed like hours later, a spark flashed, then died. Isabella smiled, she was getting somewhere! Again, a spark flashed, Isabella quickly blew and a flame bursted out of the the thick stick, Isabella lit the way! Finally, being a slave was useful for something.

The cave was like any other cave, small, dark, and has that cold feeling to it. A foul odor arose, there were skeletons everywhere. “What is this place?” Claire asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer. “A graveyard, by the looks of it,” John answered. They all stood in silence, not knowing what to do next. Suddenly, there was a huge crash, which startled the kids, and sent them bolting through passageways. They quickly navigated through the passages, hoping that they would find an exit, but every time they thought it was out, they just continued to yet another passage.

Finally, they came up to a wall, it was made up of mostly rubble, Jack pushed on it a bit, then his eyes lit up, “This wall is weakened,” he said, then began pounding at the wall, This echoed through the halls, but for some reason, this banged even louder in Isabella’s ears. Then, the vision came. It showed a man, clad in black, laughing maniacally. When she returned, she decided to ignore it. CRACK! Jack smashed the wall harder. After a while, Jack pushed the wall, and it crumbled to debris. They walked out slowly, letting fresh air fill their nostrils,replacing the dust. Suddenly, John gasped.

“What, what is it John?” Jack asked. “A whole town,” John managed to stammer, “deserted!”

Sure enough, a whole town was deserted. Most buildings were crumbled to the ground. Though some still stood. They just had enormous cracks and holes in them. Bits of rubble covered every inch of the village’s ground. Jack exclaimed “WOAH!” and his mouth agape. John nudged Isabella and said, “Hey, let’s go in.” Before Isabella could respond, her vision returned. This time it was more “demanding” then the one before. This time it showed the man laughing maniacally, again and again, and again! She shook her head to clear it. What’d this mean?

John took this shake as a shake for no. “Oh come on, it’s just a village, we’ll take a peek, and then get out of there.” We’ll find our way back home afterwards. The guys pulled the girls through the small, sturdy black gates. As they passed, Isabella had another vision. This vision was a little different from the others. This time, the man clad in black was still laughing maniacally, but there was black bars in front of him, and a large, brown object laid diagonally across the gate. Then, Isabella lost it.

“WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!” Isabella screamed. All three turned at her, puzzled. But, fortunately their attention was focused back on the astonishment of the destruction of this village. “Man, what do you think happened here?” John said thoughtfully. “Maybe a dragon or something of the sort?” Jack offered. “I bet it was a king’s army,” John growled.

Suddenly, there was a RRRRRRR.... CHOOM! The kid’s spun around, just in time to see someone’s silhouette bending a bar, originally attached on to the gate itself, to lock the gate way, and their only exit. The last thing he did shocked Isabella for many years. The man clad in black threw up his and laughed maniacally. Her vision had come true.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
“My vision came true!” Isabella exclaimed, in disbelief. “Wait, what?!” Claire cried in shock. “I had a vision,” Isabella explains, “that that very man, and that very scene, would come true, and look, it did.” “Well, that would’ve been nice to know! We could’ve gotten out of this mess, oh! I should of stayed at the lake!” Claire cried. “Now we’re gonna die out here!” Isabella tried wrapping her arm across Claire’s shoulder to comfort her, but she just pushed it away, and ran for the exit. That’s when a building just decided to give.

With about a half of a ton of debris crashing down toward Claire, Jack knew he had to act fast. While Isabella and John watching in horror, Jack, dropped his hammer, and dashed towards Claire. He reached out, and by his fingertips, he snatched her collar, and gave a quick jerk, escaping the mountain of debris that would’ve otherwise smothered her flat.

Jack dusted himself off, and helped Claire up. Claire had streams of tears running down her face. She began, or, at least tried to began a thank you, but Jack hand motioned for her, meaning no thanks needed. “Oh God Claire! Never do something so stupid ever again! You realize you would’ve died if Jack hadn’t saved you!” Isabella yelled. Claire looked up at Isabella, with sorrow, and embarrassment. Then, Isabella’s expression softened. “Come here,” Isabella said, opening her arms for Claire. She fell into them. “Listen, if we lose you, it’d just be me, with two boys all alone, and, we both know how bad that is,” Isabella joked. The two laughed a big, hearty laugh.

“Well ha ha ha ha ha funny, very funny,” Jack said sarcastically. Then, he realized something. “Hey, where’s John?” “I dunno, John! John!” The three called for him, finally, Claire spotted John staring through a window, with shards of glass etched around it. It was almost like he was mesmerized or something. “Hey, John, what are ya looking at pal?” Jack asked slapping his back. But still kept his gaze forward, and he murmured, “Is that, is that a crown?”

The crown was pure