The Black Diamond
The Ghost ship
by Kieran Pennock
The two archaeologists slashed through the thick vines of the secret Temple in the jungle. They raised their swords as they approached the final corner that they needed to turn in the Temple. Then they would finally be there! At the end of their quest! They approached cautiously. Surely there would be a trap? But no, there were no traps. They edged round the corner. The room around the turn was brighter than the mossy stone corridor they had just walked down. In the exact centre of the room was a dark marble pedestal. On top of it… The two men gasped. The Black Diamond!!! A dark aura surrounded the shining crystal. The two men crept towards the jewel. One of them picked it up. It was impossible to see through the black stone because it was such a dark colour. The gem glinted in the light.
The archaeologists sprinted out of the entrance of the ancient Temple. Their acquaintances, who had been waiting outside screamed in horror! One of them grabbed The Black Diamond and ran off into the humid jungle. The archaeologist who had been holding the stone heard a thud just behind him. He quickly spun round. The other archaeologist lay on the damp grass, dead! The man looked up. He just had time to see a savage looking man jumping towards him! The killer plunged a glinting sword at the unfortunate man. Then everything went black…
Kieran and Connor walked through the streets of Falmouth. It was the day of the Tall ships Regatta and the awe-inspiring tall ships were moored out in the deep blue water. Connor and Kieran walked onto a quay made of stone bricks, which pointed out into the sea at another grassy headland. At the end of the quay, a huge tall ship with a lot of wooden crates on it was moored. People were staggering off the tall ship carefully trying to hold onto the small crates they were carrying. Police surrounded the area and there were monitors everywhere. Why did this quay need so much security? Nearby some crates had already been taken off the tall ship, their was something that looked like a suitcase. Kieran and Connor ran over to it. The case was black with two silver buckles. It didn’t seem to belong to anyone so, curiously, Kieran opened it. Inside was a small box, some clothes, a pistol and a sword that had red stains all over it. Kieran opened the box. Inside the suspicious box was a sparkling black jewel wrapped in bubble-wrap. A dark aura surrounded it. The two boys looked at it in awe. Kieran picked it up. At that exact moment, a blaring alarm went off, the monitors zoomed in on them and the police spun round and saw them. “Sorry!” panicked Connor. “We didn’t know!!!” But the police did not listen. “HEY, KIDS!” one of them shouted. “WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING IN THAT CASE?!!?” The officers looked very angry and lunged at the boys. Kieran and Connor bolted. They ran past the endless crowds looking for a place to hide. Eventually, they found a back alley. Pushing past an old lady, they sprinted into it and ducked down behind some dustbins. The two terrified boys snuck a peek at the police running past the entrance to the alley. Exhausted, the boys ran further down the alley and onto a small quay. A gigantic tall ship was moored on the quay. It was apparently deserted. Kieran and Connor crept onto it. From the main deck, the boys could see a dark red tall ship on the horizon. It was very sinister-looking. It was heading in the direction of Falmouth! But Kieran and Connor walked down some steps into the bottom deck of the boat and didn’t pay the ship a second thought. But they would soon see what bad news the red tall ship really was… Kieran heard a terrible cry from the depths of the ship. Maybe the boat wasn’t deserted? Kieran and Connor crept further. But Connor stayed about two metres behind Kieran. Kieran saw some metal objects ahead of him. They were hanging on a wall. Kieran tiptoed closer. The objects were swords. Kieran took two off of the wall, cutting himself in the process but it didn’t hurt him, neither did it make a mark on his skin. Kieran held out one of the silver swords at Connor. “But I don’t want to cut myself”, said Connor. “I just cut myself and nothing happened to me”, said Kieran reassuringly. Connor took one and cut himself. A bloody mark appeared on Connor’s skin. “OW!!!” he screeched. “What?!” asked Kieran, who had shoved the dark gem from the suitcase into his pocket. “It didn’t hurt me”. But Connor said it didn’t matter. Suddenly another ear-splitting cry filled the boat. Then another cry came. Kieran and Connor had become very curious about what the cries were. They ventured further into the depths of the tall ship. As they walked the noises got louder and louder. The boys opened a door to their right and ran into the room where the cries were coming from and held out the swords in front of them. At the far end of the room was a cage. Inside of the cage was a black springer spaniel with a red collar. Kieran opened the cage to let the dog out. It licked him in appreciation. Kieran looked at the red collar and found that the dog’s name was Volt. “But why is it called that?” Kieran asked. “I guess it must be very fast”, replied Connor. “Oh”, said Kieran.
Kieran and Connor ran back up the steps onto the main deck. Volt followed them. They looked out into the water and saw a terrible sight! The dark red tall ship that they had seen earlier was right next to another huge boat. The two boys could see the silhouettes of the boat’s crew. They didn’t seem to be aware of the tall ship next to them. Then, suddenly… “BANG!!!!!” Slowly, the boat began to sink into the water. Down, down, down it went until it was completely submerged under the shimmering sea. The red ship continued moving closer towards Falmouth. Kieran and Connor were horrified. Could they be the only ones who could see the sinister vessel? They had to stop it. Quickly.
The two boys somehow managed to sail the boat over to the terrifying ghost ship. The ship didn’t have a name carved on the side of it. The wood that it was built from was painted dark red. The ghost ship had many hatches on the side of it. Cannons poked out from inside the hatches. The boat had many scruffy men on the main deck. From the crow’s nest came a shriek. “OI, CAPTAIN!!! THERE’S A SHIP APPROACHING!!!” Then a man with a grey beard and a pirate hat shouted: “LOAD THE CANNONS! FIRE, FIRE!!!” “BANG!!!” The cannons were fired again. Suddenly, the ground beneath Kieran and Connor’s feet began to slowly lower. They looked over the side of the ship at the deep water. Kieran looked over to the ghost ship. Maybe they could jump and escape drowning? “I’m going to jump,” he said. “Are you crazy?!!?” shrieked Connor. But it was too late Kieran had grabbed the sword he had found and jumped to the other boat. Connor realised he had no choice but to jump too. He leaped off of the ship. Volt followed him and easily made it onto the deck of the ghost ship. Connor stumbled as he landed and nearly fell backwards into the water. The two boys lifted their swords as the shaggy-looking men lunged at them. They fought their way through them, somehow surviving to get to the ship’s wheel. The man with the pirate hat and the beard was the only person there. He drew a cutlass from a sheath on his belt and pointed it at Kieran and Connor! “Give me The Black Diamond!” the man screeched. ” I don’t know how you got your hands on it but give it here!!!” “NO!” shouted Kieran. “I’m gonna throw it off the edge of the boat!” You’re not getting it! You’re evil!!!” “Give it to me and I will spare your lives!” Kieran took the gem out of his pocket, walked to the side of the boat and held the Diamond over the edge of the ship. “NO!!!!!” shouted the man. While the evil pirate captain was distracted, Connor struck him with his sword. The man screamed in pain. But he was somehow still alive. Kieran shoved The Black Diamond back inside of his pocket and ran over to help Connor. Their swords clashed. Kieran and Connor pushed the pirate away from them and Kieran slashed his sword at him. The man shrieked again, but he was still not defeated. Then Volt ran up to the pirate from behind, sprang up into the air and sank his teeth into his backside. The pirate collapsed on to the deck where he lay, stone dead. “You did it Volt!” shouted Kieran in delight. “Yay, Volt! You were actually useful for once! Well done!” said Connor. Volt barked happily. The two boys then sailed the ghost ship back to a quay in Falmouth, where they got off the boat and walked back to their houses.
Kieran and Connor studied The Black Diamond for the next five weeks, but they still couldn’t figure out what it was, where it came from and what, if anything, it did. Eventually, Kieran, Connor and Volt just buried it in the field outside Kieran’s house, but they still researched the stone for the rest of their lives. However, they still found out nothing about the gem.
The End
