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Yeah, I wrote this story for Writer's Showcase, a writing competion for my entire county. It won second place in the short story category. I just thought I'd share it. It is rather long and also rather cheesy. It could have been better if there wasn't a stupid word limit. (had to be less that 1500 words crying )


The big girl with tangled, brown hair and a face like a bulldog laughed mockingly. “You call that a story? That’s total garbage.” She crumpled the paper and threw it at Kate. The tiny, redhead tried not to show her tears.
“Let’s leave the wanna-be writer with her baby stories.” The big girl motioned to her pack and they moved off.
Kate was unable to concentrate the rest of the day because she couldn’t stop thinking of the way the big girl had taunted her. She had worked so hard and so long, and that girl had just tossed her story aside like it was nothing. Kate was beginning to lose confidence in herself and in her writing.
As soon as Kate got home, she ran up to her room and shut the door. She was thankful her parents were still at work. She sat at her desk and stared at a pile of blank pages. She felt as if they were mocking her, daring her to defile them with her pathetic imaginings. She sat there motionless, tears coming to her eyes at the pointlessness of it all.
After a while, she heard a soft knock at her door. She nearly jumped out of her skin and spun around quickly. She hadn’t heard her parents come in. Who in the world could have gotten in her house? She quickly looked around her room for anything that could be used as a weapon.
Before she found anything, the door creaked slowly open. A tall, beautiful girl with long, wavy, blond hair stood in the doorway. She was dressed in light, silver armor.
“I-Ina?” Kate whispered.
The girl nodded solemnly.
“B-but, how, I mean, you’re not, but, and, I…” Kate babbled.
The girl smiled slightly, but her eyes were sad. “Kate,” she said, “you must come with me.”
“Where? Why?” Kate asked startled.
“There’s no time!” Ina said, grabbing Kate’s hand. She led her quickly downstairs and outside. Kate stopped short. There were now trees where houses had once stood. She quickly spun around, and then gasped.
“Where’s my house?” she yelled. There was a small wooden hovel where her house should have been.
“Come on,” Ina said a little impatiently. She was already sitting atop a magnificent white horse. Kate quickly scrambled up on the brown horse standing next to Ina’s. Ina slapped the reigns and her horse trotted forward into the woods. Kate’s horse also moved forward, nearly jolting Kate off.
“Why have you brought me here?” Kate asked once her horse had pulled beside Ina’s.
“A great and terrible power is arising and-”
“But you already killed the dragon,” Kate said, cutting her off.
Ina laughed dryly. “That dragon was nothing compared to what sent it.”
“But-” Kate started.
“Let me finish!” Ina snapped.
“Sorry,” muttered Kate.
“An evil power has arisen from the north. It’s moving and enslaving everyone in its path. A small resistance has formed, small but strong. We thought we had a chance, but our best strategist was captured. That’s where you come in.” Ina gave Kate a sideways glance.
“Me,” Kate said.
“You,” Ina smiled.
All of a sudden, they heard a rustle in the bushes, and the horses stopped. “If anything happens,” Ina whispered, “let the horse lead.”
“What?” Kate said.
“Go,” Ina yelled at the same time. Both horses sprang forward as four men jumped from the bushes. Kate, who had thrown herself against her horse’s neck in fear, managed to get by. Ina, however, was not so lucky. She was tackled and fell from her horse.
“Let your horse lead,” she shrieked as she was being dragged into the bushes.
“Ina,” Kate called back. The three men in the road shrank as the horse galloped on.
After a few minutes of frantic galloping, the horse slowed to a trot. Ina’s horse had bolted in the ambush, so Kate found herself feeling alone and very vulnerable. After what seemed like hours, Kate’s horse finally came upon a dead end due to a shear cliff rising in front of them. A small pool was on the side.
“Let the horse lead,” Kate scoffed, dismounting. “Great advice.” Kate sat down, her back to the cliff. Instantly, five men had surrounded her. They were all wearing armor similar to Ina’s, but gold. All five of them had sharp swords, all pointed at Kate. She stared wide-eyed up at them all, paralyzed with fear.
“Who are you, and what is your business here?” one of the men asked.
“I-I’m Kate and-” immediately all of the men knelt before her.
“Oh Mighty Kate, please forgive us. We did not realize it was you,” the man who had just questioned her said.
Kate backed up as much as she could from her sitting position. “What are you talking about?”
“Mighty Kate, we have been anxiously awaiting your arrival ever since the Great Ina set out to fetch you,” the man said, still on his knee. “Speaking of Ina, where is she?” he asked looking around.
Realizing that these men must be part of the Resistance, Kate explained about the ambush. They led Kate through a secret tunnel in the pond to the Resistance’s underground base.
The man, whose name was Cadence, took Kate through the small, almost city-like, fort. “You need to see Amir, our leader,” Cadence explained. Your skills may already be needed. Ina is one of our best warriors, we cannot afford to lose her.” Kate nodded, not knowing exactly how she was supposed to help.
They finally came to a small stone building with two guards in front. They opened the door to admit Cadence and Kate. A middle-aged man sat at a roughly carved desk. He had scraggly, light brown hair and a worn look to his face. “Yes, Cadence?” he asked tiredly. Cadence quickly explained about Ina and Kate.
When he was through, Amir sat in silence a moment, studying Kate. “You still don’t understand why you’re here, do you?” he asked Kate. She shook her head. Amir smiled slightly. “We feel that you know the most about this land and about the enemy.”
“Why do you think that, sir?” Kate asked.
“You are the creator of this world, are you not?” Amir asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, in a sense, I guess,” Kate said hesitantly.
“Well then, that’s settled.” Amir snapped his fingers and three men came through a door behind him. He spread a map out on his desk and motioned Kate closer. It was a map of the enemy castle where Ina had been taken.
“So, Mighty Kate, what is the plan?” Amir asked.
Kate looked at the map a few minutes more, then pointed at a spot in the back. “This looks like the least guarded spot. If you could send a rescue team over the wall and through some of these back passages and to the dungeons, then I think we could get her out.”
“Hmmm, you know, that just might work,” Amir said.
“Will you stop pacing?” Amir snapped.
“It’s been four hours already. They should’ve been back by now,” Kate said. “The castle’s less than an hour away.”
All of a sudden they heard the sound of running feet and then a man burst through the door. He was panting and blood was trickling from somewhere on his head. “We failed,” he gasped. “Too many archers, all dead, Ina will hang tomorrow.” The man fell forward and they saw an arrow sticking from his shoulder. He was dead.
“It’s all my fault!” cried Kate. She buried her face in her hands and began sobbing uncontrollably. She felt a strong pair of hands on her shoulders. They guided her through a door, up some stairs, into a room, and onto a soft bed. She buried her face in the pillow. It was her fault those men died and it was her fault Ina was going to die. She was vaguely aware of some voices talking, then nothing.
Kate woke with a start, a piece of paper stuck to her cheek. She pulled it off and looked around. She was back in her own room. She looked at the paper and there was writing on it. There was writing on the next one, and the next one, and several more. Everything that had happened was on those papers
Kate smiled and began to write.
A couple of days later, Kate was sitting outside working on a new story. She looked up and saw Ina across the street. She waved, and Kate waved back. A car passed between them and then Ina was gone. Kate smiled. She was never going to let anyone tell her that her stories were worthless ever again.