Lost yet found

Carl was lost. Entirely, wholly, completely lost. This wasn’t what he had in mind when he set out on his
adventure. Yet, here he was in the middle of the countryside clutching his cherished map, wondering
which way to turn next.

From somewhere within the walls of green that surrounded him, he heard footsteps approaching,
slowly and purposefully, and it began to dawn on Carl that he was not alone at all…

Start your writing here: Suddenly there was a humongous ‘bang’ of  gunfire and the whole forest seemed to explode. He could hear people dismounting from their horses and starting to struggle up the slope. Men in full uniform; dark blue caps, coats done up with silver buttons, military pants  with ochre ties and knee high riding boots that made their movements clumsy as they slipped and slid over the wet ground came into his clearing. Their rifles had wooden stocks and brass  barrels, half way across was a lead switch that he guessed was the safety. Carl could make out 27 men, as he slid sideways into the cover of some bushes he saw a brown messenger’s satchel hanging from a branch. Looking inside he saw a leather covered notebook, a file filled with papers, a black velvet bag, a compass and a colt 45 revolver. The gun could hold up to 8 rounds (one in the chamber and 7 in the clip), he checked it quickly making sure the safety was on and it was fully loaded then slung the satchel over his shoulder - something about these men made him feel nervous. Then he remembered something about the men that he had heard before, it struck him they were CCD - the Magastereums soldiers! He remembered seeing one of their Gyrocopters searching the sky when he had left Oxford and realized that that must have been three days ago, he’d lost track of the time as well as himself.

One of the men raised his rifle and shot, Carl felt a shock as the bullet hit his left arm. He ducked behind some bushes and loaded the pistol  then jumped back as a bullet slammed into the ground in front of him. One of the men shouted something in a foreign language and then Carl heard a thick Spanish accent “Alethiometer”. Now thoroughly confused  Carl fired at the man’s leg and with a groan of pain he slowly sank to the ground, his comrades gave a deafening roar and charged towards him.

Carl saw a belt hanging on a branch by where the satchel had been it had a short knife on the right side and on the left side was a sword Without pausing to think he grabbed the belt, put it on his waist and out of the corner of his eye saw a small  spyglass just behind the knife and there was some extra ammunition (2 more rounds) then he heard a Neigh! Peering around a trunk he spied a horse. He quickly tightened the saddle girth and saw the most horrible thing in his life at the edge of the treeline. There was a body, he walked over to the man and said “What is your name?”

“Edward William Duncan” he replied hoarsely then groaned and fell back urgently saying “water”. Understanding dawned on Carl’s face and he quickly pulled the waterskin from the saddle and gave the man water. “Thanks” said Edward “now run! Have you. got that Satchel?” Carl nodded and said “I’m not leaving you here” then he helped Edward into the saddle, took the reins and moved the horse into a quick Gallop.

It was midday when Carl awoke with a bump to find he had been dozing in the saddle and fallen off, his arm hurt terribly. He  saw Edward a few metres away leaning against a rock and sharpening his sword. Then a bugle was sounded and the pounding of boots hammered and horses made a regular beat of Click! Clop! With a start Carl realised that they were being hunted he saw Edward unsling his rifle from his shoulder and load it and checked that the safety was on and raised his gun to just below his eye Edward

glanced at Carl and gave a reassuring smile quietly he told Carl to load his Colt 45 Carl obeyed and set to work loading his pistol then went and saddled the horse. Edward told him if the CCD found them they would be at least a day away. But no matter how hard he tried Carl couldn’t relax then Edward said something that caught his attention “Do you know what an alethiometer is?” “No” said Carl hs interest growing by the minute. Then a CCD officer gave a shout and Carl could hear boots pounding on the wet ground. Then a force of eighteen men erupted from the trees Carl waited until he could see the whites of their eyes then he opened fire. But he knew it was hopeless they were outnumbered nearly 10 to 1 then Edward was there he shot 4 men down in 5 bullets. The remaining men under a Sergeant retreated under fire. Then they came back with reinforcements the numbers were around 100 vs 2 so they both ran as fast as they could to get to the horse as they galloped away but with their attention focused on the men in dark blue and ochre they didn’t see the force in front of them when Edward guessed that they were out of range he told Carl and they turned round and found themselves surrounded by men in red coats with black army cockhats, gold buttons held the coats together, black kneehigh Infantry boots, white tights, white infantry shorts they all carried Muskets over their shoulders. Edward told Carl to raise his hands onto his head and put his revolver away. Slowly Carl obeyed as he looked at Edward he could see him doing the same then he whispered into Edward’s ear “Who are they” Edward’s quiet reply was “The King’s royal infantry the men who fight the magaterem” Carl mouthed a quiet ‘O’ of surprise.