The Sword of Monoah

Who am I? Some say I am a pirate, while others say I am a princess, still others think of me as a hero. How did I get all of these titles? Well, it all started on the morning of my fifteenth birthday.

My eyes popped open. I jumped up and tugged on my shirt and pants and ran down the stairs to the dining room.

“Happy Birthday!” my family yelled ecstatically. My mom flicked back her straight, dark, luscious hair and then more lights flicked on. Many people from many kingdoms appeared from the dark. Mom’s brown eyes sparkled as they all surprised me. Namue, my older brother, had a straight face on as he saw my shocked face. His hazel eyes looked sad for me. He knew that I didn’t want all these strange people here. All I wanted was a small family celebration with some village friends. Mother ignored my hints of a small party and Dad couldn’t take a hint, so I had a big party.

Maui smiled at me and pushed back his dark curls. His blue eyes, like mine, sparkled, although I saw that he only was happy because he figured he ought to be happy for me. Maui, like me, was very shy and silly. I thrust back my own sandy blonde curls. I quickly put on a fake smile.

My dad told me to sit down, and we began to eat breakfast. Once we were done, Cook came out with a big cake. We all sang, and Cook grinned.

“I made it just how you like it Elvia…why Elvia! You are wearing pants. In my days we did not wear pants. We wore beautiful skirts and twirled and…”

“Cook the days are different now. Do shush,” Kiki said to Cook. Kiki was one of our other servants who was just as old as Cook. Kiki smiled at me and slipped me an extra biscuit for the dog. I mouthed my thanks to her.

“Oh yes. That is right. I forgot the days were different. Anyway, Elvia, I jus’ wanted to tell you haw beautiful your blouse is and haw beautiful your skirt is…why Elvia! You are wearing pants haw dare you…” Cook went back into the kitchen. My party dragged on. Namue came to me a little before lunch.

“Follow me,” he said. I followed him up to the library. “Ugh ugh,” Namue coughed and gripped his chest. “Ugh ugh ugh.” Namue was my oldest brother and he was quite nice to all the servants just like Father had taught him to be. He had dark hair like my Mother but it had a brownish tinge to it. He at the oldest, is 25. Maui is 18. Namue was the smartest and he was always kind to me. Maui and I get in a lot of fights though.

“Are you…are you alright,” I asked.

“Yup. Just, ugh ugh, a little cold,” he said. He then went into a coughing fit, and I suggested we do this later. He nodded, and we went back down stairs.

“Oh, Elvia, there you are. Come here, dear. I have some people I want you to meet,” Mom said. I sighed. We walked over to a family. They had about five boys that looked my age and about five more that were not.

“Elvia, these three princes are just your age. They are triplets, and these two are a year older and they are twi…”

“MOTHER!”

“What dear?”

“I’m only fifteen! I don’t want to get married. Besides, you haven’t made the boys marry yet.”

“Elvia! How dare you say such things in front of our guests! Now talk to our nice guests. Remember your place.”

“Hello,” I said. Mother walked away. The five younger boys dawdled off, and two of the triplets that were my age went away. “Sit down,” I said. “How are you?”

“Why are you wearing pants? Princesses don’t wear pants,” one of the older boys said.

“Well, all the girls in the village wear pants, and nowadays everyone wears pants except princesses and queens. Nice meeting you. Bye.” I said.

“Good observations! I sometimes wish I was a villager,” the boy ignored my rudeness, “Then I wouldn’t have to talk to girls so much. You had great courage to speak up to your mom like that. Anyway, bye,” the boy said. I went up the stairs to visit Namue.

“Elvia?” he said.

“Yes?”

“Listen. I am about to…I have a grave sickness that mama doesn’t want anyone to know about, and I want to tell you that I am about to…the doctor doesn’t know how long I will live.”

“Namue!” I started crying, and I went and hugged my dear brother.

“Elvia. I have one request before I die. I want to marry Bria.”

“Bria! But she is a servant!”

He nodded, “I love her. We have been courting for some time now and…oh Elvia! Follow me.”

“No, no sit. You can’t get up, you are sick. You might die, no!” I sighed. I gave up and followed him to the library.

“I can’t explain everything, but I love the Great One. He is real. He created everything and he wrote this.” Namue gave me a scroll.

“Quote ‘A scroll of the Great One written through my son, Johann. There will come a day when someone will find a great sword. It is the Sword of Monoah. It has the power to do much good, and only a descendent of the throne of Comicar can reach it. It is in a rock in a cave. If a descendent of the throne of Comicar cannot reach the sword before 11789, then anyone may get the sword, and, if the sword falls in the wrong hands then it has the power to destroy a whole country. Signed Johann.’ End quote. Whoa! But I think this is just a story…it can’t be true!”

“Elvia, it is not. I cannot explain right now, but I will show you more scrolls. The Great One is real. Elvia?”

“What?!”

“Promise me…promise me you will go get that sword…promise me, promise me…”

“Why?”

“Elvia, please.”

“You will come too, Namue. We will go together,” I said. Namue nodded.

The next day was the wedding of Namue and Bria. I was appalled and astonished at everything right now. In one day I had planned a vacation, heard my dearest brother was dying, and planned a wedding. My turning fifteen seems like a small thing now. The wedding was small, much to Mama’s dismay, but certain things cannot be planned in a day, so the wedding happened. Four days of marriage passed.

I went to visit Namue and Bria in Namue’s room. We were going to talk about our trip to Monoah. I tiptoed into the room. Bria crept up to me. She had tears rolling down her face. I ran to Namue.

“Elvia,…p…promise me…promise me you will go to….M…Monoah…promise me you’ll save…the world…promise…”

“Namue! You’ll go with me. You’ll go with me. Namue! Namue! Namue!” I stroked his hair. My tears wet his dear head.

“P…promise?”

“Yes! Yes! I promise, Namue, I promise!” I held his hand, and Bria held his other hand. We cried. Our tears soaked the bed. Namue smiled up at us.

“The Great One is real. Oh Elvia. I know he is. I can see Paradise.” Those were Namue’s last words. I sobbed and wailed. My brother was dead. This all happened so fast. I wasn’t used to such surprise. We had my brother’s funeral. Soon my mother forgot about Namue. He was a disgrace as he had married a servant, and it was better he was dead anyway. The days passed, and many a day I would do nothing and think about nothing except dear Namue.